Germany on Preventive War

In a recent speech outlining the German reaction to Kofi Annan's High Level Panel Report, Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer didn't mention the parts of the document that embrace the idea of preventive war -- if approved by international authority. This is as close as he got:

In its report, the High-level Panel rightly underlines the importance of prevention for crisis management. Especially when it comes to combating terrorism and armed conflict, military and police measures are needed in the short term to protect people from an acute threat.

Some time ago (November 2003), German Defense Minister Peter Struck did speak to the "preemptive war" issue directly:

"Preventive (military) action requires unambiguous intelligence," he said. "The weapons of mass destruction which cannot be found in Iraq have shown how thin the ice can be when one embarks on a war of self-defense on the basis of supposedly clear proof of an imminent threat."

I'll be following up on this topic.