Such reasoning is guaranteed to lead to wrong decisions more often than not. Yet, the US and some of its allies are now using the Cheney Doctrine to attack Chinese technology. The US government argues that because we cannot know with certainty that Chinese technologies are safe, we should act as if they are certainly dangerous and bar them.
SINGAPORE (Nov 18): The worst US foreign-policy decision of the last generation — and perhaps longer — was the “war of choice” that it launched in Iraq in 2003 for the stated purpose of eliminating weapons of mass destruction that did not, in fact, exist. Understanding the illogic behind that disastrous decision has never been more relevant, because it is being used to justify a similarly misguided US policy today.
The decision to invade Iraq followed the illogic of then-US Vice-President Richard Cheney, who declared that even if the risk of WMDs falling into terrorist hands was tiny — say, 1% — we should act as if that scenario would certainly occur.
