Prophetic words - the War on Terror

[Quartus]

From John Farnam's Quips & Quotes, 15 April 02

I have received a number of unfavorable comments on my recent postings regarding individual military rifles, pistols, and ammunition and the mistakes that have been made, and are being made, by the current military bureaucracy. Everything from, "Mind you own business" to "Don't rock the boat."

All bureaucracies function like termite mounds. They predictably post a hoard of expendable sentries out front whose job it is to insultingly disparage anyone who would dare speak out in opposition to the Party Line. Central to the Party Line is, of course, the dogged insistence that the bureaucracy has never done anything wrong and is, indeed, incapable of error. It's something commentators and private-sector trainers like me come to expect.

None of the forgoing is particularly important except that, in the present international circumstance, it strikes me we are becoming victims of our own successes. We've been successful in Afghanistan, to the point where we have overlooked serious cracks in our armor. Because we are successful in the short term doesn't mean everything we do is as good as it could possibly be. It is not just when things go wrong that we need to look for ways to improve our system. We need to look with even more discernment when things go right. As my friend and colleague, Jeff Chudwin, points out, "Success often reinforces bad tactics." This is true particularly in the minds of the naive and self-congratulatory.

In 280BC, King Pyrrhus of Eprius, a military genius equal to MacArthur in our time, after his grandest victory, the Battle of Asculum, was approached by a host of well wishers congratulating him on his momentous (but cripplingly costly) accomplishment. They blabbed to no end about his wonderful victory. In response he said, "Many more such 'victories,' and I shall be undone!" Ever since, the term "Pyrrhic victory" has referred to a situation where the battle is won, but the war is lost. As I have tried to illustrate, during the American Civil War, the battles of Chancellorsville and Cold Harbor were classic Pyrrhic victories.

A "War on Terrorism," like the long-forgotten "War on Poverty" is far too unfocused to long remain in the public consciousness. History has provided us with many examples of grand and presumptuous armies, drilled in obsolete tactics, being defeated by unconventional irregulars who have identified and capitalized on glaring weaknesses that the conventional army has foolishly and arrogantly refused to acknowledge. I wonder if we too will become so infatuated with our fleeting successes that we will fail to make the changes that need to me made.

 

[LAK]

"Making war" ... on a noun? Preposterous.

Anytime a politician - or anyone otherwise claiming to be a statesman - uses the word "war" in conjunction with a noun, look out.

 

[Chris Pinkleton]

LAK,

Amen.

War on drugs, war on poverty .....

I like that there is a catch phrase that gives me a heads up on the latest government scheme doomed to failure, though.

 

[DMK]

The war on terrorism(or "war on terror" as I have sometimes seen it called, how can you declare war on an emotion?) is a vehicle to provide public support to an end. Unfortunately that end is never specifically described. That is the part to be very concerned about since the end may be a goal that is never intended to be actually achieved. The war on drugs was a dress rehearsal and validated that this method of desensitizing the people does indeed work.

The general public will lose interest eventually and turn attention elsewhere, allowing the machine to continue on consuming budget, rights and liberties year after year. The Patriot act and all other such legislation should include a sunset clause so it may be reviewed in a decade or so to determine if it did anything productive.

 

[Quartus]

The Patriot act and all other such legislation should include a sunset clause so it may be reviewed in a decade or so to determine if it did anything productive.

May I take the liberty of changing that a bit so that I agree with it?

All legislation that creates government regulations, agencies, or jobs should include a sunset clause so it will automatically terminate unless it can be proved to have done something productive.

How's that?

 

[Destructo6]

on a noun?

What else would you make war on, other than a person, place, or thing? "Japan" is a noun, so is "Germany." I might agree on a "war on abstractions", but not nouns.

 

[LAK]

Destructo6,

Any sovereign nation. The black lacquer coating called japan is a noun. The nation of Japan is not. The porcelain called china is a noun - the country known as China is not.

The term war is a noun. It is the armed conflict of two or more sovereign nations. There is no such thing as "war" on a noun. It is utter nonsense; newspeak.
---------------------------------
"Frankly, we can't differentiate between terrorism and organized crime and drug dealing" - Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff, Senate Banking Committee hearings (money trail of the 9/11 attacks)

 

[carebear]

"...a noun is a person, place or thing." - Schoolhouse Rock

or more completely

noun
a word that is the name of something (as a person, animal, place, thing, quality, idea, or action).

Imperial Japan (for example) as a geopolitical entity was both a place AND a thing, and if taken corporately, even a person in a legal sense.

You CAN make war on nouns, you almost have to.

Also,

"War" is both a noun and, as used in this context with "make", a verb.

The noun "war"

1. war, warfare -- (the waging of armed conflict against an enemy; "thousands of people were killed in the war")
2. war, state of war -- (a legal state created by a declaration of war and ended by official declaration during which the international rules of war apply; "war was declared in November but actual fighting did not begin until the following spring")
3. war, warfare -- (an active struggle between competing entities; "a price war"; "a war of wits"; "diplomatic warfare")
4. war -- (a concerted campaign to end something that is injurious; "the war on poverty"; "the war against crime")

The verb "war"

1. war -- (make or wage war)

As suggested, "You can't make war on abstractions" expresses your point better but admittedly doesn't have quite the zing. (although def #4 seems to contradict that also, English keeps on a changin')

 

[LAK]

carebear,

Look up "Japan" in a dictionary. You will note Japan listed as; a country, a transitive verb, adjective and a noun.

War is a conflict of force between sovereign nations. Yes, war can be a noun. It can also be used as an abreviation, a transitive verb, adverb, adjective, and intransitive verb.

War is not however the geographical place name of a sovereign nation. Neither are "terrorism", "drugs", "crime", "poverty", or "disease".

RE:"4. war -- (a concerted campaign to end something that is injurious; "the war on poverty"; "the war against crime")" .... And that is pure political newspeak. Right on target

 

[carebear]

Just gonna have to disagree with you on this one.

The noun "country"

1. country, state, land -- (the territory occupied by a nation; "he returned to the land of his birth"; "he visited several European countries")2. state, nation, country, land, commonwealth, res publica, body politic -- (a politically organized body of people under a single government; "the state has elected a new president"; "African nations"; "students who had come to the nation's capitol"; "the country's largest manufacturer"; "an industrialized land")
3. nation, land, country, a people -- (the people who live in a nation or country; "a statement that sums up the nation's mood"; "the news was announced to the nation"; "the whole country worshipped him")
4. country, rural area -- (an area outside of cities and towns; "his poetry celebrated the slower pace of life in the country")
5. area, country -- (a particular geographical region of indefinite boundary (usually serving some special purpose or distinguished by its people or culture or geography); "it was a mountainous area"; "Bible country")

These all define what the noun "Japan" represents. The name Japan stands for the larger more complete phrase and thus is it. Especially in context, just like in the context of TFL "Carebear" is Matthew C. of Anchorage, AK.

I do agree that making "war" on states of being or concepts is ridiculous newspeak that allows, almost demands, abuse due to its vagueness. So lets end on this semantic note.

 

[Quartus]

So lets end on this semantic note.

Just so long as it's not a romantic note....

 

[carebear]

So I should cancel the FTD bouquets?

I heartily agree that the "War on Terror" is likely to drift into expensive uselessness like all our previous wars on political issues. But it isn't a bad catchphrase for a continuing campaign to destroy this or that particular group of terrorists as they're identifed as threats. At least with terrorists you have people to shoot anyway.