Ceci N'est Pas Une Guerre

We all need to stop using the word "war" when discussing Iraq.
Because it isn't a war, it is an occupation. Calling it a war conjures up a) the possibility of "winning", b) the humiliation that we all associate in one way or another with "losing" c) implies that there was some instigation by Them, some sort of First Cause, which we all know is a lie.

In America everyone loves a winner, but no one wants to be an Occupier: a word that evokes everything from being the last one picked for dodgeball to waiting for that lady to get out of the airplane bathroom already!

People will squander money to "win a war." Framed as "Why we are pissing away trillions of dollars and put our troops at risk to OCCUPY a country that clearly does not want us there?" reveals the sad, incontrovertible facts.

Occupation, occupation, occupation.