Reply #7: It is not hairsplitting... [View All]

[ljm2002]

...and it doesn't take much time to figure out.

"War" implies action, potential glory, and a goal.

"Occupation" does not have the same active and positive connotations.

And, "occupation" is the more accurate term. There are no battlefronts, the enemy is everywhere. Our goal is peacekeeping (which as you point out, we are failing at utterly) and rebuilding (ditto). Even our initial incursion is better described as an "invasion" rather than as a "war" IMO.

Even if people do not define the terms to themselves, the connotations are there. Language matters. We keep getting our butts kicked in the media, and yet we fail to recognize even the most rudimentary forms of argument framing.

Sorry this just pushed one of my buttons. I always get irritated when someone tells me to stop doing something useful. It's not like we can't spend time on more than one thing -- in fact if we're serious we'd better be pressing forward on multiple fronts.

(edited to add more on war vs. occupation terminology)