US warns rogue States

THE US will “not hesitate” to act alone in launching pre-emptive strikes against rogue States, George Bush said yesterday.

America will exploit its military power to “deter and defend” itself against the threats posed by enemies before they are unleashed, the US President said as he outlined his new aggressive foreign policy for the first time. “Given the goals of rogue States, we can no longer solely rely on a reactive posture as we have in the past,” he said in a 33-page document submitted to Congress.

“We will not hesitate to act alone, if necessary, to exercise our right of self-defence by acting pre-emptively.” The US will not allow its military supremacy to be challenged in the way it was in the Cold War, he added.

“The president has no intention of allowing any foreign power to catch up with the huge lead the US has opened since the fall of the Soviet Union more than a decade ago. Our forces will be strong enough to dissuade potential adversaries from pursuing a military build-up in hopes of surpassing, or equalling, the power of the US.” The new strategy has significant differences from the last one published by Bill Clinton in 1999. Mr Clinton stressed that the best way, and often the only way, to achieve US security objectives was through international alliances and coalitions.He made no mention of pre-emptive strikes. The Bush administration document also switches policy on arms treaties, arguing that non-proliferation agreements have failed and that Iraq, Iran and North Korea have obtained weapons of mass destruction. “The inability to deter a potential attacker, the immediacy of today’s threats and the magnitude of potential harm that could be caused by our adversaries’ choice of weapons, do not permit that option.”

Instead, Mr Bush called for a policy of “counter-proliferation.” The document, which is believed to have been heavily influenced by US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, also described the need for foreign aid, public diplomacy and changes in the International Monetary Fund to win the “battle for the future of the Muslim world.”

The National Security Strategy of the United States, which was published in the New York Times, also urges other nations to adopt Mr Bush’s economic philosophy of low taxation. A senior White House Official told the paper that the president had edited the document heavily “because he thought there were sections where we sounded overbearing and arrogant.”