Doug -- My argument against your POV would go like this:

Fifty years ago last spring I got a job as a deputy sheriff in North Idaho. Boundary County. You didn't have to have a Police Science degree then, had to learn on the job. One thing I learned was

Shooting somebody because you think he might shoot you someday isn't self defense. No matter who told you he's going to shoot you someday. Even if he's a rotten guy.

There are good reasons behind that rule if you think about it; shooting that guy might work out good one time, but as a code of conduct it's destructive; it's gangster ethics. Think about it.

And that's what's wrong with pre-emptive attacks. Gangster ethics. You don't need a quote from the CIA, or Geo.W. Bush, or Bob Woodward; all you need is common sense and/or common decency.

Clint

--and pre-emptive attacks kill more than that one rotten guy.