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Article: Responsibility and truth.(Editorial)
- Article from:
- Arena Journal
- Article date:
- January 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Arena Printing and Publications Pty. Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The dramatic declaration by the United States in 2003 that the threat of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) could justify preemptive strikes against sovereign nations marked a break in the history of nation-states. In the view of the Bush administration WMDs meant, in short, that relations between nations would no longer be structured around the mutual recognition of sovereignty. The aftermath of this declaration is now history, starkly represented in the agony of the people of Iraq and the Middle East.
Whether pre-emptive strikes can ever be justified is a weighty matter. As acknowledged by Kofi Annan, contemplating such strikes is not necessarily mere ...