If your goal is fewer attacks,launching your own is a terrible method of achieving your goal. Even if you stop all the "enemy" attacks that doesn't mean the number has decreased.

Deterrence is a time-honored strategy. As the Romans liked to say, "if you want peace, prepare for war." It tends to prevent adversaries from miscalculating, a proximal cause of many a bloody conflict.

Launching attacks isn't deterrence. Even if your general philosophy were correct, which I disagree with, it is not one of peacefully promoting democracy and liberty.