We should quit saying "Iraq war"

[ButterflyBlood]

As someone put in an interview in one of my magazines, a war starts with two antagonists from the outset, and one initiates the conflict. But Iraq never threatened or posed a threat to the US. The US simply invaded it. It was an invasion. Furthermore there was no declaration of war. Overusing the term "war" makes it easier for Freepers to say "we're at war now" with the "War on Terror" nonsense (another term that shouldn't be used by Democrats as was explained a couple days ago).

There was no "Iraq war". There was an invasion of Iraq.

[prolesunited]

1. Agreed

I always use invasion rather than war. I love it, though, when someone says, "We're at war. It was declared when terrorists attacked us on 9-11."

My response is, "What does that have to do with Iraq? Where did they terrorists come from? Why didn't we attack Saudi Arabia?"

Usually, all they can do is shrug their shoulders and walk away.

[Demonaut]

17. Better yet, Bush's War

he's the one who created it

[tinrobot]

22. Bush War...

It's his war - he made up the phony reasons.

We need to start calling this the Bush War.

[Skip Intro]

2. Exactly

And we should also, when referring to the invasion of Iraq, call candidates and others on either side of the issue "pro-invasion" or "anti-invasion" - not "pro-war" or "anti-war." Those "war" terms are almost misleading.

[thingfish]

3. Agreed! I say "Attack on Iraq" or "Invasion and occupation of Iraq."

It sends the right-wing howler monkeys into a frothing fit, as the truth always seems to do.

[arikara]

4. I couldn't agree more.

I always did call it the "invasion of Iraq".

[Hotdiggitydog]

5. If only the media would start calling it the Invasion of Iraq....

Great idea. Much, much better description of what has happened.

[newyawker99]

24. Hi Hotdiggitydog!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[TexasEditor]

6. I'm in Texas...

which will no doubt go for Bush, but I always say "Bush War," like this... "my son was in Bush War 1, and now my nephew's in Baghdad in Bush War 2."

[snippy]

15. I talk about the Next Bush War when discussing Bush serving a second term.

This seems to make even many Bush supporters uneasy.

I have always referred to the invasion and occupation of Iraq as just that, although when talking with KKKreepers or shittoheads I usually say the Bush Invasion of Iraq.

[For PaisAn]

7. My 12 year old nephew's comment

I came back from the 3/22/03 "antiwar rally" in NYC and this was our conversation. He asked me where I had been that day. I told him at a rally protesting the war in Iraq. His next words floored me. He said "How come they call it a war when we started the fight with Iraq and they don't have the weapons to fight back? We just started bombing them, how is that a war?" I've been calling it an attack since.

[RC]

9. Don't let you nephew ride on small planes.

He sounds far smarter and better informed than most adults.

[fujiyama]

14. clever kid!

[Nom de Plume]

8. Sooner or later, it will be our turn...

What comes around, goes around.

[newyawker99]

25. Hi Nom de Plume!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[truth2power]

10. I've been calling it an invasion all along.

I always use the phrase, "Since we invaded...."

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[arcane1]

13. I notice...

that your examples don't include any reference to Iraq attacking US

[CityZen-X]

12. Incursion At Best!

War is a conflict, that has never been the case here. Now this incursion has become a police action that has become this uncontrollable quagmire.

[earthman dave]

16. Calling it a war is like ...

calling Lennox Lewis vs My Gran a "fight"

[scarface2004]

18. also agree...

aint no war, invasion is what it is, sort of like what iraq did to kuwait.

[maggrwaggr]

19. I've never been able to call it a war

Instead I say "invasion" or I put the word "war" in quotation marks.

It was more like a mugging. Mass murder, actually.

Here's proof:

[CalebHayes]

20. Yeah, just call it "That Bush quagmire"

[savistocate]

21. Another phrase -term

which gives immediate recognition without even another word or sentence. I read it here & sorry I didn't note the poster..who
might recognize it. Is --The 9-11 President. Could by extension add The 9-11 Administration The 9-11 VP.

That they failed--to connect the dots duh, failed to take warnings
seriously (at very least) without even taking up worse possibilities. They failed and have failed to take responsibility
--to prevent, even alert.

Bush The 9-11 President___like Iraq Invasion and Bush Recession__Bush Deficit.

[loudnclear]

23. I said this at the beginning of the invasion. It is now an "occupation"

Language is important. This is not a war and the soldiers being killed are not dying for their country. They are dying for Bush and the PNAC cabal. Period! Sorry, but this is the plain truth!

If anything, the Iraq invasion has made this country less safe, less respected, and less humane. We will live in fear for generations to come.

[Rebel_with_a_cause]

26. We should also stop calling Iraqi fighers "insurgents"

and call them "partisans" or, in Reagan terms, "freedom fighters."

[HootieMcBoob]

27. ok

That's a good idea. Iraq invasion. Or Iraq quagmire.

Both are good.

[Silverhair]

28. It is standard for us to name a war for the place where the fighting is.

Ex: Mexican War, Plains Wars, Spanish-American War, Pacific War (Part of WWII), European War (Part of WWII), Korean War, Vietnam War, Gulf War, and various assorted "actions". So to call it the Iraq War is mere being consistent. Or do you want us to go back and rewrite all the history books to use the names you want to call each of those wars?

[osaMABUSh]

29. Last March when it began I refused to call it a War

I mean, we just went in there and bombed the crap out Saddam (well, almost).

This was never a War. It is now an occupation.

[Hippo_Tron]

30. Okay we'll now refer to it as "the dolphin"

Sooo, who thinks the dolphin will be the defining issue in the upcoming presidential election?

[jokerman93]

31. Yes! This is how the discourse is framed

Yes! This is how the discourse is framed. Call it a war and you deliver to the other side the leverage they need to trot out all the high sounding rhetoric about being at war and the extraordinary sacrifices that we must make in time of war -- namely four more years of this war administration and its designs on the future of America and the world. They want to recreate the WWII era national war fervor all over this country.

Don't give these f'ers an inch!

We're not at war.

We illegally invaded a sovereign country and now we're stuck there with our heads up our ass.

War on Terror? Nonsense. This country hasn't even been told who was behind the criminal attack of the twin towers and the pentagon on September 11.

Reframe the discourse. Say it like it's true and scoff at any attempt to maintain the "conventional" narrative of our nation's experience these last three years.

That's how they do it.

Next question.

[gate of the sun]

32. I agree it was an invasion

and we should only call it an invasion. Anything else is a disservice to us and the Iraqi people.