Editing Preemptive war (section)

{{Short description|Armed conflict to thwart or gain an advantage over imminent invasion or offensive}}
{{distinguish|text=[[preventive war]], namely an '''anticipatory war''' in the face of a less immediate threat}}
{{Redirect|Preemptive strike||Preemptive strike (disambiguation)}}
{{War}}
A '''preemptive war''' is a [[war]] that is commenced in an attempt to repel or defeat a perceived imminent offensive or invasion, or to gain a strategic advantage in an impending (allegedly unavoidable) war ''shortly before'' that attack materializes.<ref>{{cite book |title=A Dictionary of Aviation |first=David W. |last=Wragg |isbn=9780850451634 |edition=first |publisher=Osprey |year=1973 |page=215}}</ref> It is a war that preemptively 'breaks the peace' before an impending attack occurs. 

Preemptive war is sometimes confused with [[preventive war]]: the difference is that a preventive war is launched to destroy the potential threat of the targeted party, when an attack by that party is not [[Imminent threat|imminent]] or known to be planned. The U.S. Department of Defense defines a preventive war as an armed conflict "initiated in the belief that military conflict, while not imminent, is inevitable, and that to delay would involve greater risk."<ref>{{cite book |title=Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms |year=2002 |page=413}}</ref> A preemptive war is launched in anticipation of immediate aggression by another party.<ref>{{citation|volume=20|publisher=Hofstra L. Rev.|pages=321|date=1991–1992|title=On Assassination as Anticipatory Self-Defense: The Case of Israel|author=Beres, Louis Rene|url=http://heinonlinebackup.com/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/hoflr20&section=16}}</ref> Most contemporary scholarship equates preventive war with aggression, and therefore argues that it is illegitimate.<ref name=shue>Shue, Henry and Rhodin, David (2007). ''Preemption: Military Action and Moral Justification''. Oxford University Press. p. 116. {{ISBN|978-0-19-923313-7}}</ref> The waging of a preemptive war has less stigma attached than does the waging of a preventive war.<ref>Shue and Rodin 2007, p. 118.</ref>

Article 2 (4) of the [[UN Charter]] requires that states refrain from the initiation of armed conflict, that is being the first to 'break the peace' unless authorized by the UN Security Council as an enforcement action under Article 42. Some authors have claimed that when a presumed adversary first appears to be beginning confirmable preparations for a possible future attack, but has not yet actually attacked, that the attack has in fact 'already begun', however this opinion has not been upheld by the UN.<ref name = "colin gray">{{cite web
| year = 2007
| url = http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/pub789.pdf
| title = The Implications of Preemptive and Preventive War Doctrines: a Reconsideration
| access-date = 2010-12-02
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170216102004/http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/PUB789.pdf
| archive-date = 2017-02-16
| url-status = dead
}} A US Army sponsored discussion of various justifications for preemptive, preventive and 'precautionary' war.</ref><ref name = "kofi annan">{{cite web
| year = 2003
| url = https://www.un.org/News/ossg/sg/stories/statments_search_full.asp?statID=27
| title= Adoption of Policy of Pre-emption Could Result in Proliferation of Uniliteral, Lawless Use of Force: By Kofi Annan
| access-date = 2010-12-02}} Kofi Annan discusses his unwillingness to accept proposed new changes in UN policy towards the use of preemptive force, and why.
</ref>