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What if the country were not a party to a treaty banning the WMD activity that
U.S. intelligence had discovered? The President might try to pressure the country to stop the undesirable
WMD activity. They might, for example, demand that other countries end any help
they were giving for the WMD activity. Or, the United States could unilaterally
end trade or cut off diplomatic relations with the country developing WMD and
could ask other countries to join in applying these sanctions. In the most extreme
case, the United States might consider unilateral military action to force the
country to stop WMD production. Military action might take the form of bombing
the facility producing the WMD or training camps of WMD terrorists (counterproliferation).
Another approach, which is receiving increased attention in the Bush
administration, is to try to promote a change of government or "regime" in the
country seeking WMD. The idea is to work to replace a government that is
hostile to WMD controls and aggressive toward neighboring countries with one
that is opposed to WMD and eager to cooperate with neighboring states. The
United States used this new approach in March 2003, when it led an international
coalition to invade Iraq and overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussein. The
United States had long accused Hussein of developing WMD programs in defiance of
UN resolutions.
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