Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Paul Wolfowitz’s classified Defense Planning Guidance (DPG), released on February 18, 1992, “argued that the United States should be prepared to act preemptively…initiating military action when necessary, not just in response to an attack or immediate threat. …The published excerpts of the DPG did not mention Israel, but its pledge to maintain ‘regional stability’ in the Middle East implicitly meant a commitment to Israel’s defense. Likewise, the DPG said that U.S. interests in the Middle East could be threatened by ‘[restricted] access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil; proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles, threats to U.S. citizens from terrorism.’ Moreover, deterring ‘potential competitors’ from aspiring to a larger role meant ‘punishing’ them before they could act. In other words, the slightest false move by Iraq, or, for that matter, Iran, could lead to preemptive military action.”
– Craig Unger, The Fall of the House of Bush, Pages 116-117