What if this or a future administration decides that a
preventive attack on North Korea's nuclear and missile facilities is, regrettably, necessary?
As the Korean script was marching inexorably toward a climactic battle scene at the end of 2017, brought on by a rumoured US
preventive attack, the writers suddenly ended the season on a cliffhanger.
North Korea swiftly condemned the UNSC resolution as "an act of war." While US strategy has always included retaliatory and preemptive attack options, "Trump has added a new scenario of
preventive attack in which Washington would attack North Korea even absent any indications of imminent attack," said Bruce Klingner, a former CIA deputy division chief for Korea who is currently with the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington.
Lodi said the ''
preventive attack'' aimed to destroy the potential threat of the government troops and to abort attacks on civilians in the area.
Richard Betts notes that the difference between preemptive and
preventive attack "has often been confused, even by professional strategists." (4) The distinction made commonly by theorists is that preemptive attacks are undertaken within a time-urgent context, such that an opponent's attack has already been set in motion or is imminent.
There is a pretty broad consensus that, short of a full-scale invasion and occupation of Iran, a
preventive attack would not end the nuclear program, only postpone it for a few years.
"We're afraid that a so-called
preventive attack on Iran might also destroy us.
The CNAS report is only the latest in a series of studies and analyses that have warned against a
preventive attack on Iran, particularly by Israel.
The findings and analysis are presented under the sub headings of: preemptive attack,
preventive attack and international law.
At the opposite end of the spectrum of policy choices is a
preventive attack: a military strike (most likely by Israel, the US, or both) against sites in Iran associated with its nuclear program.
Sarkozy said last week that Iran's "military, nuclear and ballistic ambitions constitute a growing threat that may lead to a
preventive attack against Iranian sites that would provoke a major crisis that France wants to avoid at all costs." Iran's UN ambassador said in a letter to UN leaders that his country would "not hesitate to act in self-defense to respond to any attack against the Iranian nation." Iran would "take appropriate defensive measures to protect itself," ambassador Mohammad Khazaee told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council, of which France is one of the five permanent members.
There must be some further consideration that keeps the option of a
preventive attack on North Korea off the table.