Did the U.S. start this war?
Did the U.S. start this war?
Of course it did. Not in the moral sense, perhaps, but certainly in the legal sense. The government of Afghanistan did not knock the towers down. Neither did the government of Iraq. There was no overt aggression by any sovereign entity.
Note that I am not speaking to whether it was right or wrong to do so - I am speaking to the legal definitions.
The Bush Doctrine is a remarkable departure from the traditional American position. And I don't know it to be correct, because of that.
Don't get me wrong - Retaliation was necessary. And big, statement-making retaliation at that. In a world full of options, is the Bush Doctrine the best retaliation mechanism? I don't know that to be true.