At the very least, this is not *not* war.
 | By Louise Loftus Staff Editor, Opinion |
That was true of Woodrow Wilson, she writes, who campaigned for re-election on the slogan, "He kept us out of war," and then took America into World War I one month into his second term. And it was true of Lyndon B. Johnson and Vietnam. |
What to take from that? Never trust anything a candidate says in an election year? |
For Kristian, who is a fellow at a foreign policy think tank in Washington, D.C., it's that at least in those days the American public could tell that a war had been joined, that a promise had not been kept. |
In recent decades "the line between what is war and what is not war has perilously blurred," she writes, and poses a question for this moment: "Are we sure Americans can reliably recognize when we've joined a war?" |
This was the question that drew me in when I read the first draft of Kristian's essay. It seemed like a good time to dig into what exactly it means to "join" a war, and during the editing process Kristian and I went back and forth on that verb, "join," and how much it could either convey or conceal. It was so evasive in this context, we concluded, that it's used only twice, and very carefully, in the final essay. |
I can't resist an argument that tries to excavate the true meaning of words, particularly the words that officials use to communicate with us. And when it comes to the decision to go to war it seems especially important that we all understand what we're saying to one another. |
So, if we accept Kristian's argument that the line between war and not war has blurred, can we be sure that the line hasn't been crossed in Ukraine? America has sent billions of dollars in aid and weapons to Ukraine, and American intelligence has been used to kill Russian generals and strike a Russian warship. |
"If we have so far avoided calling it war, and can continue to do so," Kristian writes, "maybe that's only because we've become so uncertain of the meaning of the word." |
Here's what we're focusing on today: |
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