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Argumentative Essay On The Bush Doctrine

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The “Bush Doctrine” was outlined in a speech by President George W. Bush in 2002. The US “would no longer rely solely on ‘Cold-War doctrines of containment and deterrence.’”9 The US would adopt preemption as its foreign policy, meaning they “reserve the right to preempt threats” and act accordingly.10 Furthermore, President Bush stated that the US would promote US principles and ideologies to countries around the world.11 g74 Lastly, President Bush stated that the US “would do what was necessary to remain the world’s sole superpower.”12 Kaplan and Kristol neatly summarize the Bush Doctrine as an “affirmative vision of American leadership, one that is neither reactive to nor dependent on the emergence of a specific threat.”13
According to Kaplan and Kristol, the US became complacent in ensuring that third world nations would follow our capitalist ideology.14 This complacency was at its highest when the Clinton administration was in power. The effects of this were seen during 9/11 and the rise of terrorism. Because Iraq does not support US governmental paradigm, and thus threatens to influence other up and coming nations, we should invade it. Kaplan and Kristol also hint towards the economic influence the US may hold if Iraq is “liberated”.15 One of their arguments was that the US should demonstrate its military power to send a resounding message to the world that the US was the world’s greatest superpower.
President Bush claimed that a preemptive attack on Iraq was necessary

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