The Iraq War, the Next War, and the Future of the Fat Man, by Stephen L. Carter, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law, Yale Law School. January 16, 2012 – 64 Stan. L. Rev. Online 46 – Essays
“Preemptive warfare is a form of self-defense that occurs when your adversary has the tanks massed on your border, ready to attack. Preventive warfare is aimed at keeping your adversary from gaining the means to attack you. Both the law and the ethics of self-defense have tended to frown on preventive warfare, not least because it has no logical stopping point. But Americas recent wars have all been, in one way or another, preventiveaimed less at foiling current plans than at stopping future ones.”
