We instead said that we should attack Iraq because we *think* they have weapons we don’t want them to have, and we *think* they might use these weapons to attack us.

It’s pretty much an argument we could use to invade any industrialized country in the world.

Japan is a sovereign nation

So is Iraq.

The issue here is whether or not the war with Iraq (against the Hussein government) was correct. I and other Americans kept Hussein and Iraq fully separate from al-Qaeda residing in Afghanistan (and other places).

If we knew Iraq was planning to attack us (and in the modern world, any Iraqi battle groups would be on the television days before they could arrive within carrier aircraft or ship-based missile striking distance of the USA), of course we’d attack those groups and probably some government sites in Iraq itself for good measure. We obviously would not be obliged to wait first for us to be struck before we were to act.

it doesn’t bode well for the collective security of the world if America doesn’t denounce preemptive war.

There’s nothing wrong with it whatsoever in theory, nor in practice if the theory is followed correctly. If we know we’re about to be attacked, we have every right and it can also be argued, if we know, then we have the duty (to prevent or reduce harm to ourselves), to strike first.

I’d re-quote LeMay: If we truly knew that Japan was going to strike Pearl Harbor and the Philippines, we would and should not only bomb the shit out of the Japanese forces headed to Pearl Harbor, but also the forces headed to the Philippines and targets on the Japanese mainland itself if befitting. We would and should bomb the shit out of them.