What would they be "preempting" then?
I very greatly doubt you will say "a coming attack."
for just one example, that the United States took no blatant military actions against the Japanese before December 7, 1941.
And here we go again with your silly effort to make Fort Sumter into Pearl Harbor. I wouldn't be surprised if your own allies cringed at this.
Oh, dear... now did I just hurt your sensitive feeeeeeeeelings?
I've got think skin. Pretty sure I can bear it.
My point here remains valid, aggressor nations often use the excuse of "preemptive attack" to justify starting a war -- most recently, we've seen Russians claiming Ukraine was getting ready to attack, and that's why Russia was forced to invade.
And I'll repeat: history normally doesn't look kindly on such claims.
Now it seems you dislike comparison of Fort Sumter & Pearl Harbor, but it's you, FRiend, who used the "preemptive attack" defense.
Pearl Harbor was a Japanese "preemptive attack" while the U.S. waited patiently until after the actual attack before waging war against Japan.
I could list any number of other examples of "preemptive attacks", and show you how they didn't work out so well, if needed?