US warns Iraq it will get nuclear response
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Your support makes all the difference.The Bush administration has formally announced a new military strategy calling for pre-emptive action against potential enemies and making clear its readiness to launch a nuclear strike against a foe threatening to use weapons of mass destruction against America or its forces.
The doctrine takes a more aggressive approach to the threat of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons from either rogue states or terror groups. The strategy says America will "respond with overwhelming force including all options" to the use of weapons of mass destruction against it, its troops or its allies.
A secret appendix also names four countries – Iran, Syria, North Korea and Libya – considered the most hostile to America. Breaking with 50 years of policy, it also authorises pre-emptive strikes against countries or terrorist groups that are close to acquiring weapons of mass destruction or long-range missiles.
Some aspects of the doctrine had been outlined previously. It reflects a policy President George Bush described in June at the West Point military academy, when he said the US should be ready to launch pre-emptive strikes. "We cannot put our faith in the word of tyrants, who solemnly sign non-proliferation treaties, and then systemically break them. If we wait for threats to fully materialise, we will have waited too long," he said.
Commentators said the release of the six-page doctrine, the National Strategy to Combat Weapons of Mass Destruction, was designed to send a message to Iraq about the consequences of using nuclear or non-conventional weapons in a future war.
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