War Connotations

The United States (U.S.) official declarations of war occurred during five separate military conflicts, starting in 1812 and most recently in 1941 when declaring war on Japan, signifying one of the last times the U.S. officially made such declaration.

According to the U.S. Constitution (Article I, Section 8), “Congress has the exclusive power to declare war.”

The Korean War; War in Vietnam, and extended campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq were never stamped with congressional declarations of war, technically, those were not wars! Those conflicts, and other in between are considered “Extended Military Engagements.”

Although the U.S. military led the United Nations' expeditionary force, its involvement was tied only to a UN Security Council resolution, because the UN itself cannot declare war. Consequently, the conflict in Korea did not technically constitute a war.

Congress however, authorized troop deployment in Vietnam, but, because it did not issue a declaration of war on North Vietnam or the ‘Viet Cong’, the Vietnam War is, technically speaking, not considered a war by the U.S.

The Iraq War (also known as the “Second Persian Gulf War”), was an armed conflict between a U.S. led coalition forces against the regime of Saddam Hussein from 2003 to 2011. The war was part of a broader campaign against alleged terrorist activity known as the “Global War on Terror.”

The proponents of the “Just War Theory” argue that the Afghanistan war of 2001 was a Just war. However, the application of theory principles of last resort; legitimate authority, and proportionality to the Afghan war reveals that the U.S. invasion was considered by many but unjust.

Call it: “targeted action;” “a systematic campaign;” or a “sustained counter-terrorism strategy, but don’t call it war!

U.S. President Obama too was selective about the way he used the word “war” in the build-up to the situation with the so called “Islamic State” (ISIS) in Iraq and Greater Syria.

War as understood, is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular or irregular military forces.

No formal declaration of war was issued in the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War. At the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s President Putin gave a televised address announcing the start of the invasion with the term, "special military operation", side-stepping a formal declaration of war.

While the Ukrainian Parliament refers to Russia as a "terrorist state" in regard to its military actions in Ukraine, it has not issued a formal declaration of war on its behalf.

Currently, Israel is at war, since Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu declared that his country was “at war” with 'Hamas', the Palestinian authority governing the Gaza strip since 2007. (labelled by Israel and Western powers as “terrorist organization”).

Nowadays, the terrorist threat matrix seems more like an abstract expressionist painting. To those accustomed to traditional landscapes, it is difficult to discern what it depicts.

The magnitude and shape of the terrorist threat depends on the course of a conflict, duration, footprint, and interests it contravene.

Whereby, terrorism, in its broadest sense, is defined as the use of intentional violence and fear to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily during peacetime in the context of war against non-combatants.

Newspapers, magazines, and other information sources may deem militant and guerrilla as neutral terms, whereby terrorist conventionally indicates disapproval of the behavior of the ones so labelled, regardless of the motivations for such behavior, whereas, freedom fighter indicates an approved conduct.

While both terrorists and freedom fighters resort to violence and justify their actions in terms of ideological arguments, terrorists differ in targeting innocent victims, a violation of human rights and a form of oppression in which freedom fighters would not engage.

Hence, militancy is a condition which experiences the use of violence, being combative or predisposed to fight. Militants can include any individual or group which takes to violence. This need not only include terrorists and insurgents, but also armed religious groups which take to violence to further their beliefs.

Typically, militancy begins with the notion of self-defense in the face of occupation, and exceptionally by reciprocal expansionism.

Media wise, controversially the ‘British Broadcasting Corporation’ (BBC) tries to avoid the expressions "terrorist" or "freedom fighter", except in attributed quotes, in favor of more neutral terms such as "militant"…

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Food for thought!