SI
SI
discoversearch

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor.  We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community.  If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.
Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  
To: Alighieri who wrote (245897)8/14/2005 12:48:20 PM
From: Elroy  Read Replies (2) of 1574706
 
Helping to police Iraq is not a war.

Which means exactly nothing to the soldiers who are losing their lives in this non-war, and to their suffering families. I never cease to be amazed by the meaningless semantics of non stakeholders in this non war.

It's not meaningless. Sending your family to fight a war is one thing. Sending your family to provide security for other people is a different thing. If you think the distinction is meaningless, you don't understand the importance of language.

Bush gets away with lots of things that sound patriotic by describing them as part of some nebulous "war" effort. It makes people opposed to the situation in Iraq sounds anti-patriotic, and it makes parents with kids in Iraq feel as if their children are engaged in something similar to what the military went through in WW1, WW2 and the Korean war, whereas the reality is extremely different.

I imagine one reason for the declining support for US troops in Iraq is precisely because there is no war going on; rather, its American troops acting as targets for religious fanatics and loser Baathist holdouts. There is no way the US military "wins" in that situation since 1) they can't locate and destroy the "enemy", 2) the "enemy" needs to be brought into the mainstream through inclusion in the Iraqi political process, and the US presence hinders rather than helps that inclusion. Referring to the situation in Iraq as a "war" covers up facts #1 and #2 which seem pretty important to resolving the situation over there.
Report TOU ViolationShare This Post
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  

HomeMailHotSubjectMarksPeopleMarksKeepersSettings
Terms Of UseContact UsCopyright/IP PolicyPrivacy PolicyAbout UsFAQAdvertise on SI
© 2025 Knight Sac Media.  Data provided by Twelve Data, Alpha Vantage, and CityFALCON News