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Pre-emption should be considered: Powell

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON SEPT. 27. The doctrine of pre-emption is only an elevation, not elimination, of the existing national security and military doctrines, the United States Secretary of State, Colin Powell, has said.

"There is no nation that should not have recourse to a line of thinking (pre-emption) when a threat is coming its way,'' Gen. Powell said at a hearing at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee here on Thursday. "It is inherent in the sovereignty to protect itself.''

"We're looking at a national security strategy, at a strategy of dealing with threats that might be coming at the United States of America. And I believe it would be irresponsible for us not to consider the option of pre-emption or prevention... when we see a real and present danger coming our way and we can do something about (it), why should not the President do something about it to protect the American people,'' he asked.

The Senator from Maryland, Paul Sarbanes, asked Gen. Powell if the United States could "unilaterally do something about it.''

To which he said, "maybe it's unilaterally, maybe it's not unilateral.''

The Senator persisted in asking if other nations also had recourse to the same line of thinking.

Gen. Powell said that had the U.S. spotted the Japanese fleet sailing into the Pearl Harbour (which was attacked during World War two), pre-emption would have been a "very sound policy.''

Mr. Sarbanes seemed unimpressed with Gen. Powell's response. "I don't find that analogy really on all fours," he said.

Gen. Powell, at various times, has said that the so-called doctrine of pre-emption that was being bandied about so much was really nothing new. Nor did it imply that existing doctrines such as containment and deterrence were being tossed out. The only difference was that pre-emption should perhaps be considered "more readily than we might (have) in the past.''

The doctrine of pre-emption should be seen as an "elevation'' of the many tools at the disposal of the United States, and not as one that excludes or eliminates existing tools of national security and military strategy, he said.

"I thank you for that explanation,'' remarked Senator Joseph Biden, Committee Chairman, adding that the doctrine warranted some ``legitimate discussion and debate'' internationally.

"I know you don't want to set a precedent that allows India to say, by the way, Pakistan has done the following, we reserve the right to pre-emptively...,'' Mr. Biden said.

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