WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama's new national security strategy says armed conflict should be a last resort but doesn't repudiate the Bush administration's doctrine of pre-emptive war or its call for the US to go it alone in defending against foreign threats. The overarching goal of Obama's National Security Strategy, intended to guide US military and diplomatic policy for years, is to eliminate the need for the US to strike first or take unilateral military action. In the president's first formal declaration of his national security strategy, Obama breaks with some of his predecessors in putting heavy emphasis on the value of global cooperation, developing wider security partnerships and helping other nations defend themselves. Obama's apparent effort to move away from the Bush national security legacy without outright repudiation of it seemed likely to draw criticism from the left, which had hoped for a more direct rejection of the doctrine of pre-emptive war. Republicans, on the other hand, seem certain to criticize the policy's emphasis on diplomacy and development aid as evidence Obama is weak on defense issues. Obama says in the document that success in these areas is crucial to maintaining US influence abroad. "Our strategy starts by recognising that our strength and influence abroad begins with the steps we take at home," the president wrote in a preface.
