The biggest security threat to any nation or community anywhere is IGNORANCE. In Australia's case it is mainfested by ignorant policies and outbursts by the Prime Minister and select members of his cabinet like Ruddock, Hill, (reith when he was in office) and Downer (the name suits him to a tee).
International law does not sanction 'pre emptive strikes'. It has not been challenged though when applied by states like Israel not because it was right but because the US exercised its powers of veto at the security council when a motion was moved to condemn Israel for its aggression and attacks on Osirak, Lebanon. Tunisia and even the Six day war against Syria, Jordan and Egypt.
The dangers in 'pre emptive strikes' arises from the belief in ones infallibility and in the inferiority of the enemy. The Mossad believes in its infallibility becaue two or three decades ago the Arabs whom they subjugated were the proverbial 'camel jockeys and towel heads' we made them out to be. Backward and uneducated with repressive rulers imposed on them by the US and Britain and then aided and abbetted by Russia and France in order that the supply of oil remain cheap and uninterrupted.
After decades of humiliation they have taken the war and their grevieances to the heart of their enemy. The streets of Israel and The USA. It is a new paradigm in warfare. Not even Ho Chih Minh would have dreamed up such a situation. They call the shots when and where they desire and don't make any coment about it. We make the assumptions on their behalf and doctor documents and images with our technology to reinforce our perceptions in black and white.
When the Israel acted on its impeccible and infallible intelligence service it murdered an innocent pregnant woman in Lillihammer in Denmark instead of an Arab terrorist. An act of pre emption. Later When they again believed the late Abu Nidal was aboard a Libyan civilian airliner they shot it down and killed all 220 on board. A pre emptive action. When they believed the masterminds of the Munich Olympic massacres were on board a bus in Beirut in 1985 they killed over 50 people to only discover later the bus carried a group of school children.
The Russians were certain that KAL 007 carried on board sensitive monitoring equipment for spying over the shakalin Islands, so they shot thei aircraft down killing all aboard, a pre emptive action to prevent a 'greater harm from occuring?' Such is the arrogance of ignorance called pre emptive strikes. John Howard made the ultimate mistake of bearing his real soul and speaking the language of the unexorcised White supremacy ideology that still lingers and stinks like a dead unburied corpse in our midst.
He is not strong nor is he intelligent. No nation is so great that their firepower alone can make them invincible. Today the so called terrorists (marginalised and threatened minorities) are not armed with nuclear weapons or missiles that can fly over mountains to destroy their targets with precision.
Todays warriors are so immune to the fear of death and are armed with the determination to succeed that they have even lost their human instinct for survival or self preservation. How can you threaten an enemy not afraid to die?? "I'll kill you mate!! ??" That won't work. They will operate at will and call the shots whilst we bury our dead and receive hugs and cards of condolences from the government.
There are those so devoid of any self respect that they think this is about fighting for peace in the world and draw all sorts of parallells with Hitler and the second world war and appeasement. They are so drenched in the rubbish of Howard, Bush and the rest they cannot remember the Viet Nam war another episode in their history where their defeat came about as a result of their ignorance.
It is best that we take a step or two back and exercise some introspection. Our best role could have been to negotiate as an independent arbiter. But the US and Britain won't have that. They have other things on their mind and wanted a house boy which they got in Howard.
The result is that our long term trade prospects are in danger. China won't openly ocme out in favour of any one side like we do as if barricking for a football team. They are cautiously guarded in order not to offend anyone. They apply the language of the UN not of Butler another houseboy and Howard.
