Historically, a lot of military action is preemptive.<p>Japan&#x27;s attack on Pearl Harbor was a preemptive move in their eyes.<p>Imagine how Americans would feel if Russia established a huge military base halfway between Russia and America in the middle of the ocean somewhere. Now imagine that nuclear weapons don&#x27;t exist.<p>In that scenario, a preemptive strike might start to make sense to a lot of people in America.<p>That&#x27;s pretty much how Japan felt about Hawaii before Pearl Harbor.<p>I&#x27;m not justifying Japan&#x27;s attack. It was a horrible tragedy. But it&#x27;s totally understandable, if not laudable.