US wages war on a concept

[n2doc]

U.S. wages war on a concept

ROBERT SPRACKLAND
GUEST COLUMNIST

On Sept. 11, 2001, religious fanatics hijacked four commercial jets and crashed them in the most egregious acts of war against the United States' mainland since the British burned Washington, D.C., in 1814. No perpetrator was an Iraqi, but the White House had decided Iraq was a locus of anti-American terrorism. While journalists dutifully presented each administration justification against Saddam Hussein, the lynchpin of condemnation became the effervescent weapons of mass destruction.

The administration has drawn lines between nations that are "with us, or with the terrorists." An Axis of Evil was defined, in which one nation was invaded and cast into a civil war, while two others hastened to develop nuclear weapons capabilities. Afghanistan was occupied, Iran joined the Axis and all hell broke out in the Middle East as Israel slammed at Hezbollah. And still there are claims that all is still hopeful on the roadmap to peace.

How can there be any progress in a war in which there are no contiguous elements? The U.S. is not waging war against Iraq, or Baathists, or even Muslims. It is not fighting a place or entity but a concept -- "terrorism." What enemy can be more of a phantom, impossible to kill or contain, than an idea? That is why dictators so enjoy a good book burning -- books contain ideas.

The government, when queried about when troops will come home and the war will end, repetitively answers "we will stay the course until we defeat terrorists." Yet the methods employed to attack terrorists provides precisely the feeding ground to produce their replacements. Worse, the largely artificial lines of nationhood drawn in the sands of the Middle East quickly blow away in the hot winds of fanatical Islam. Terrorists do not wear a national uniform, but come dressed as civilians.

Wars against ideas never achieve victory.

more:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/280844_waronterror11.html

[unschooler]

1. A war of ideas is won on the editorial pages, the university classroom,

the chambers of the legislature... but never on the battlefield.

[indepat]

3. A concept: didn't someone (Gore Vidal?) say an abstract noun? Can war

really be waged against an abstraction? Just wondering.

[Vidar]

4. First step is to arm the infinitives and participles.

[Oversea Visitor]

2. But that stupid concept

target 57 countries and paint them as your enemies x(