Instructions for Anti-War Protester: Disconnect Neural Pathways, Remove Brain from Skull, Begin Speaking
John Parrish, an enlightened protester, floats a rhetorical smart bomb:

'Making a pre-emptive strike sets a bad example to the rest of the world, said Parrish. 'What if Pakistan did a pre-emptive strike against India? They can say, the United States does it, why cant we?’

To which the answer would be that Pakistan gets nuked in return. So what benefit does Pakistan get by going pre-emptive? Zilch. Hence, they will not go pre-emptive.

Here is an interesting article about the less than worrisome realities of our policy of pre-emption.