Aznar proclaims pre-emptive strike doctrine
01 November 2003
In a speech given by Spanish prime minister José María Aznar at the Escuela Superior de las Fuerzas Armadas (ESFAS, the Armed Forces Superior Training Centre) on 20 October 2003 to the top ranking officers in the army, navy, air force and Guardia Civil (the Spanish paramilitary police force), Aznar stressed the need for "anticipatory actions" as part of "a new form of conceiving security". This new understanding of security would not have any "defined geographical limits", and Aznar dismisses the alternative, "returning to a sort of defensive autarky (despotic rule)" as "laughable" and "unthinkable", particularly after Spain has been able to "carve itself a niche" on the international scene, resulting in "new interests and more people to protect all over the world". Aznar's government was strongly supportive of the war waged by the USA and UK in Iraq, in spite of overwhelming opposition by the Spanish public. Aznar explained the changes that he proposes in security policy as a result of the "substantial changes in the world" that are taking place following the "balanced international situation in the 1990s, guaranteed by a single power". The two main characteristics of the present juncture are "the dominant position" of the USA, and the "appearance of the threat of international terrorism". The Spanish prime minister also backed an increase in funding for the armed forces, both at a national and EU level.
The prime minister argued that terrorism "will be a constant concern of the international agenda and the policies of free states", highlighting that "terrorism will not disappear easily nor quickly". The new situation, and the 11 September 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, mean that "a change of attitude is needed in order to be effective", in which "the logic of pre-emptive actions is just another part of the ... responsibility that is the duty of a ruler". Aznar accepted that it may sound as though he were pushing for a new security doctrine, but claimed that all he is doing is to "accept that terrorism has become a powerful element of insecurity at the start of the new century".
With regards to the USA, Aznar argued that the country "that suffered the worst and most brutal terrorist attack in history ...has a right to understanding and active solidarity from its allies". Furthermore, at present "there is no other practical or realistic alternative to the guarantee of security that the US represents". He dismissed the confrontational attitude by some allies towards the USA as "historical nonsense", noting that although Europe´s relationship with the United States "is not in its best moment", in other cases, like Spain, "the Atlantic relationship could not be in a better condition".
Aznar stressed that "European common security has been waiting too long for our continent to take security more seriously", saying that some Europeans unreservedly feel that the defensive capacities of our countries should be improved, both individually and by the EU as a whole. He highlighted the Spanish armed forces' recent achievements, such as the ending of obligatory national service (and the armed forces' consequent professionalisation), the positive role undertaken in missions abroad, and the high level of support they receive from the public.
Finally, he argued that a transformation was necessary in a number of fields: technical innovation, management of resources and personnel, doctrines on the use of force and the structure of the armed forces. With regards to the doctrine on the use of force, he explained that while "peace missions have been the backbone" of the armed forces' activity in the 1990s, the fight against terrorism (in its forms of mass destruction) means that a new understanding of security is required. Its main features are that "it must not distinguish so much between the interior and the exterior, [it must not have] defined geographical limits, and ... the effectiveness of this struggle leads t