9/17/2002

The Bush Administration’s National Security Strategy (NSS) of September 17, 2002, said: ” ‘we must be prepared to stop rogue states and their terrorist clients before they are able to threaten or use weapons of mass destruction against the United States and our allies and friends.’ The NSS states preventative force is imperative because fanatical terrorist organizations and reckless dictators are undeterrable. It stipulates, ‘Given the goal of rogue states and terrorists, the United States can no longer solely rely on a reactive posture as we have in the past. The inability to deter a potential attacker, the immediacy of today’s threats, and the magnitude of potential harm that could be caused by our adversaries’ choice of weapons do not permit that option. We cannot let our enemies strike first. …deterrence based only upon a threat of retaliation is less likely to work against leaders of rogue states more willing to take risks, gambling with the lives of their people, and the wealth of their nations… Traditional concepts of deterrence will not work against a terrorist enemy whose avowed tactics are wanton destruction and targeting of innocents; whose so-called soldiers seek martyrdom in death and whose most potent protection is statelessness.’ ”