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First Strike: Preemptive War in Modern History. By Matthew J. Flynn. New York: Routledge, 2008. ISBN 978-0-415-95845-5. Notes. Select bibliography. Index. Pp. viii, 261. $27.95.
Recently an op-ed piece appeared in the Wall Street Journal, in which a retired general reassured Americans that we have the capability to destroy Iran's nuclear and military facilities should Teheran persist in its efforts to develop nuclear weapons. The general solemnly warned that "the risks of military action must be weighed against those of doing nothing."* Where have we heard this before?
Attacking first with moral justification is the theme of Professor Flynn's concise survey of preemptive wars, culminating with his main target- the "Bush Doctrine" and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. His case studies include Napoleon's 1805 campaign, the Confederacy in 1861, Japan in 1904 and 1941, Germany in 1914 and 1939, the Russo-Fmnish War, China's intervention in Korea, and Israel's "Six Day War." Preemption in Flynn's view is legitimate only if the survival of the state is at risk. His analysis, from respectable secondary sources, is compact and often convoluted but to his credit he does not shoehorn the evidence. One might conclude, for example, that Napoleon's Ulm-Austerlitz campaign was a legitimate preemptive attack on a British-funded continental coalition threatening to invade France. But Flynn characteristically reverses course...