It is troubling to me that people call this occupation a "war"

[Toots]

It is not a war. Not even close. We are not one nation state battling another. We are not fighting anyone in uniform. If all it takes is an American dying to call it a war then boy howdy do we have a war with tobacco. More Americans die every four days from tobacco related causes than have died the whole four years of Iraq. This is an occupation ( an illegal one IMO) with a lot of criminal activity and no real police force to deal with it. It is not a "war"

[hobbit709]

1. True

Illegal invasion followed by illegal occupation compounded by practically every war crime in the book.

[Terran]

2. Thank you

That's been bothering me no end for YEARS now. Even the (allegedly) most responsible news orgs around, like NPR, refer to it blithely as "the war", and no one seems to stop and think that that is NOT what is going on here, not since at least the day Bush played fighter pilot and wore the codpiece.

:mad:

[Disturbed]

5. That is correct. I have been calling it the US Occupation

ever since the Illegal Invasion took place. I guess calling it a War makes it more valid for the Busholini Regime, the American public and the supporters of "Freedumb".

[Vincardog]

3. Illegal occupation not = "war"

[Atman]

4. That's because you're not a...

.

[joeunderdog]

6. You got that right. Where's the declaration?

The term War just dignifies the atrocities that they are committing under the guise of politics and humanity. How offensive.

If you have the stomache, I think this says it all... http://www.ericblumrich.com/swf/occupied.swf

It's an Occupation, stupid.

[kimmerspixelated]

7. Absolutely right- Circulate this often!!

Occupation-Imperialism- whatever you call it- it's not right and never was right. LET'S IMPEACH B4 WE OCCUPY IRAN!!!

[pitohui]

8. jeez not this again

if you don't understand that an occupation is a form of war and a particularly nasty one, back to grammar school for you

don't trivialize what is going on in iraq, this is war, ugly, bloody, brutal, this is what war almost always looks like

it is not two lines of men in nicely pressed uniforms and a drummer boy playing as they meet on some glorious field, never was, never will be

the occupation of poland was a war, and the start of a particularly nasty one, so too is this a war

[joeunderdog]

11. Ask any Iraqi...is it a War?

Doubt many--any--would say yes. They believe they are just trying to get rid of the people who invaded their country. Me too.

Our friends at BushCo never declared war. Wonder why that is.

[stray cat]

12. then why are Iraqis killing other Iraqi's kids?

[Toots]

13. Why are American tobacco companies killing American kids?

There are far more deaths so it must also be a war. Thank goodness we have us a "War pResident"..

[Terran]

15. Ok....

So who, exactly, are we at "war" with? There are rules about that kind of thing, you know?

[TheCentepedeShoes]

9. I've referred to it as occupation

to a couple of people at work and they looked at me as though I'd grown an extra head. And those are the only 2 people who even have a smidgen of a clue as to what is going on 'over there.'

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

10. It's a war.

adjective
–noun
1. a conflict carried on by force of arms, as between nations or between parties within a nation; warfare, as by land, sea, or air.
2. a state or period of armed hostility or active military operations: The two nations were at war with each other.
3. a contest carried on by force of arms, as in a series of battles or campaigns: the War of 1812.
4. active hostility or contention; conflict; contest: a war of words.
5. aggressive business conflict, as through severe price cutting in the same industry or any other means of undermining competitors: a fare war among airlines; a trade war between nations.
6. a struggle: a war for men's minds; a war against poverty.
7. armed fighting, as a science, profession, activity, or art; methods or principles of waging armed conflict: War is the soldier's business.
8. Cards.
a. a game for two or more persons, played with a 52-card pack evenly divided between the players, in which each player turns up one card at a time with the higher card taking the lower, and in which, when both turned up cards match, each player lays one card face down and turns up another, the player with the higher card of the second turn taking all the cards laid down.
b. an occasion in this game when both turned up cards match.
9. Archaic. a battle.
–verb (used without object)
10. to make or carry on war; fight: to war with a neighboring nation.
11. to carry on active hostility or contention: Throughout her life she warred with sin and corruption.
12. to be in conflict or in a state of strong opposition: The temptation warred with his conscience.
–adjective
13. of, belonging to, used in, or due to war: war preparations; war hysteria.

There's only one definition there that doesn't fit. I'll agree that it's not a card game.

[Terran]

17. Laughable

Sorry man, if you're going to pull out the dictionary and get all 'technical', only the first three definitions have any military meaning, and two of them don't fit on their face:

"1. a conflict carried on by force of arms, as between nations or between parties within a nation; warfare, as by land, sea, or air."

Iraq is neither a conflict "between nations" nor a conflict "between parties within a nation" (unless you refer to the civil war which is going on, to which the US is not a party but a bystander)

"2. a state or period of armed hostility or active military operations: The two nations were at war with each other."

Again, two nations are not are war in Iraq.

"3. a contest carried on by force of arms, as in a series of battles or campaigns: the War of 1812."

This is dubious, given the usage example, "the War of 1812". Militarily, Iraq is the equivalent of a colonial power occupying a country populated by 'less advanced' people--e.g., the French in Algeria, the British in Zimbabwe and Palestine, etc. But when those people rebelled against their occupiers, no one called those situations "wars".

[MrPrax]

14. "an illegal one IMO"

Wow...don't hold back.

Yeah it's a law enforcement thing...I guess like cops charging a 'meth lab' and killing a baby -- sure there is wailing and crying, but the 'act' itself is righteous.

But you are wrong...there is ONE state battling another, it's just the battlefield is in one country. The other state is Iraq and it's people and it's called an insurgency. I support the self-determination of the both the Iraqi and Afghani people and their efforts to rid evil from THEIR land.

You must know evil? You saw them let your citizens drown like rats in a ...what is the common term...bit of breeze, summer shower, hissing and spitting....oh that's right, we call it a hurricane so we DON'T undermine the significance of the betrayal.

[Bandit]

16. Calling this a "war" gives Bush* the right to call himself a "War pResident"

He is not..