Israel preempted Sadaam's nuclear program, no disaster resulted.
Reagan bombed Libya, Bush invaded Afghan and Iraq, and one result was Quaddafi abandoned his nuclear program.
Reagan invaded Grenada. Schlesinger sure put his historical knowledge on "selective".
"Neither the United States of America nor the world community of
nations can tolerate deliberate deception and offensive threats on the
part of any nation, large or small. We no longer live in a world where
only the actual firing of weapons represents a sufficient challenge to
a nation's security to constitute maximum peril.
My fellow citizens, let no one doubt that this is a difficult and
dangerous effort on which we have set out. No one can foresee
precisely what course it will take or what costs or casualties will be
incurred. Many months of sacrifice and self-discipline lie ahead --
months in which both our patience and our will will be tested, months
in which many threats and denunciations will keep us aware of our
dangers. But the greatest danger of all would be to do nothing.
The path we have chosen for the present is full of hazards, as all
paths are; but it is the one most consistent with our character and
courage as a nation and our commitments around the world. The cost of
freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one
path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender or
submission.
Our goal is not the victory of might, but the vindication of right;
not peace at the expense of freedom, but both peace and freedom, here
in this hemisphere, and, we hope, around the world. God willing, that
goal will be achieved."
---- John F. Kennedy, Oct. 22, 1962