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Can We Afford Bush Doctrine?

US 'empire' and its limits | csmonitor.com

This article from the 9 October 2003 issue of the Christian Science Monitor frames the question before the American electorate: Can we afford the Bush doctrine of preemptive war?

"The election in 2004 is going to be a referendum on the empire," says Andrew Bacevich, a professor of international relations at Boston University. Success or failure in Iraq will determine if "the imperial project can remain on course," he predicts, referring to what critics view as the administration's agenda of toppling "rogue" regimes.

Most Americans - from all political parties - say that, following the Iraq war, they oppose a policy of using military force against another country unless the US is attacked first. Polls also show that Americans do not support waging war against Iran or North Korea, even if those so-called "axis of evil" countries are developing weapons of mass destruction.

Such attitudes contrast sharply with the administration's national security strategy, also known as the "Bush doctrine," which lays out the president's intention to use preemptive military force against perceived imminent threats. "We cannot let our enemies strike first," it says.