03 May 2007
The Name War
In his OpEd article in the Wall Street Journal of April 25, 2007, Max Boot interprets the word war (as in “Long War”) to mean the military strategy that has been so poorly used by the Bush Administration in Iraq. The Global War on Terror that was endorsed by the Congress when it authorized the invasion of Iraq was meant as a metaphor for the level of effort that would be needed to prevent nihilistic attacks on the world’s civil order like 9/11. Unfortunately, that authorization was too easily manipulated by those (read neoconservatives) who took war to mean a military invasion and occupation.
Mr. Boot appears to believe that war, in the military sense, is a natural state of affairs made necessary for achieving long term well-being. In Iraq, pacification is his definition of our strategic objective. Police work and intelligence operations won’t be enough.
On the contrary, long-term and determined use of those methods is exactly what will be needed to preserve and expand a liberal democratic way of life. Calling it a War on Terror shows how sloppiness in the nomenclature of public policy (like War on Drugs, War on Poverty, etc.) has tragically caught up with us when a real war could be undertaken under its banner.
In his OpEd article in the Wall Street Journal of April 25, 2007, Max Boot interprets the word war (as in “Long War”) to mean the military strategy that has been so poorly used by the Bush Administration in Iraq. The Global War on Terror that was endorsed by the Congress when it authorized the invasion of Iraq was meant as a metaphor for the level of effort that would be needed to prevent nihilistic attacks on the world’s civil order like 9/11. Unfortunately, that authorization was too easily manipulated by those (read neoconservatives) who took war to mean a military invasion and occupation.
Mr. Boot appears to believe that war, in the military sense, is a natural state of affairs made necessary for achieving long term well-being. In Iraq, pacification is his definition of our strategic objective. Police work and intelligence operations won’t be enough.
On the contrary, long-term and determined use of those methods is exactly what will be needed to preserve and expand a liberal democratic way of life. Calling it a War on Terror shows how sloppiness in the nomenclature of public policy (like War on Drugs, War on Poverty, etc.) has tragically caught up with us when a real war could be undertaken under its banner.
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