Brasas, I think we need to discuss democracy before we can get any further here. You say that if a majority wants genocide then it is democratic - I disagree.

To me democracy is so much more than majority rule. It is a system based on individual and inalienable rights. In order for a democracy to be democratic each person being part of it must have a right to life and property, a right to speak, the right to a fair trial should he be accused of crimes, and the freedom to choose how his life should be. The only limitation here is that people are not allowed to limit the freedoms of others.

Majority rule comes later - majorities can decide on the actions of a democratic nation (usually be electing it's leaders), but these actions should always be limited by the basic civil rights of the members of the community.

That is how I reach my conclusion that preemptive strikes are undemocratic - they simply don't follow the rules of international law, which state a war of agression to be illegal. Democracies, being based on civil liberties should be the first to follow these rules, because after all - if they (being the rolemodels of the world) don't follow the rules why should everybody else?

qanatoli