Duelfer report weakens Bush preemptive doctrine

The Duelfer report has something for everyone, however, it endangers the Bush administration's pre-emptive doctrine and highlights the risk of basing wars on a complex, composite rationale and on less than accurate intelligence.

For example, Iran can launch strikes against American troops in Iraq and claim protection under the same principles forwarded by the White House.

Under this hypothetical scenario, Tehran does not need to provide conclusive intelligence to win the global test and UN protection. It can cite the hostile history of relations with America in general and the Bush team’s stated goals of regime change in Iran in specific—usurp the Bush doctrine—to justify an attack against American soldiers.

Terrorists like Al Qaeda have started to posit moral equivalence between those who wage War on Terror and the actions of the "resistance" and "martyrs". In fact, just last week, Ayman Zawahiri urged Muslims to launch a “preemptive” strike against Americans in Iraq and elsewhere.

Another example, the next time an Islamist suicide bomber strikes in Russia, Moscow could use that as a pretext to invade Saudi Arabia, the spiritual center for Wahabbi Islamist terrorists, and an American ally in the “War on Terror”.

A lot of bad things have stemmed from faulty intelligence used by President Bush to justify invading Iraq.

But the biggest mistake this administration has made is to adopt shifting rationales to compensate for the faulty intelligence--admitting the intelligence blunder early would have allowed Washington to regain the credibility necessary to retain the preemptive war option.

Unfortunately, as things stand, the next time America needs to strike preemptively it will find fewer takers for its position, especially if President Bush is still in charge.

This is why many advocate regime change in Washington.