>
> That, btw, addresses one of Justin's concerns voiced
> earlier on this
> listserv regarding the police vs military response
> to terrorism. US
> does not police (in a civilian meaning of the word)
> its own society but
> wages multiple wars against its parts, so why would
> one expect it to
> behave differently toward other societies?
>
There's something to that. The "war on poverty" was conceived on analogy to the War in Vietnam. Then we had the "cold war," that is, peace. And of course the "war on drugs." The odd thing is that this is fairly recent. Until WWII, the US had an insignificant military establishment unless it was actually at war (in the Civil War and WWI.) It's the cold war and the national security state that created this militarized social model. Moreover, the US model of war itself is part of the problem. Going back to "unconditional surrender" Grant in the civil war, the US has been unwilling to accept anything less than absolute overwhelming victory, no terms, no negotiations, in war. (Which doesn't mean it hasn't had to do so now and then, e.g., Vietnam.) So war ceases to be a continuation of politics by other means and acquires its own logic. jks
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