http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/7735177.htmAs President Bush prepares to deliver his third State of the Union address, it's a good time to reevaluate his most controversial policy - the doctrine of making preventive war.
The so-called Bush Doctrine was spelled out in the September 2002 National Security Strategy - in a post-9/11 age of terrorists who might get nukes from rogue states. Its goal was to preempt an adversary who might threaten us in the future. It called for "anticipatory action" against states we considered dangerous, even before they showed any signs of attacking us.
Iraq, of course, was the test case. Many assumed that the other countries on the President's "axis of evil," Iran and North Korea, and maybe Syria or Libya, were next in line for forcible regime change. That gave our allies the willies.
But the Bush Doctrine turned out to be much fuzzier than it originally seemed. At first glance, the Iraq war seems to justify the doctrine's faith in military preemption. But in fact, the Iraq venture shows we can't just run around ousting despots by military means.