My friend quoted this same line to me. Does anyone know where this comes from? I guess it is a Michael Moore thing? Just off the top of my head what about Kosovo, Panama, and Grenada? Weren't those pre-emptive?
I suppose there's been a pre-emptive element to every war we've ever fought, in that part of the reason we fought was to prevent the enemy from doing any more damage to us than they already had, to the extent that we were able to prevent them. I don't think that's ever been the only reason, but when it suits their purpose the media will portray that as the only reason.