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    The McMaster Department of Philosophy has now put together the following notice commemorating Barry: Barry Allen: A Philosophical Life Barry…

A War By Any Other Name… (Nadelhoffer)

If Israel decides to initiate a full-scale invasion of Lebanon as has recently been reported (see here), do we finally get to call what’s going in the Middle East a war?  At least for now, the Bushies think not (see here).  After all, yesterday Tony Snow–the always double-speaking White House Press Secretary–suggested that, "this is a war in which the United States — it’s not even a war. What you have are hostilities, at this point, between Israel and Hezbollah. I would not characterize it as a war."  There you have it folks, straight from the elephant’s mouth.  This war is not war.  Perhaps Snow should have elaborated on why the laughably broad definition of "war" we rely on when talking about the "wars" on drugs and terrorism doesn’t suffice for the Israeli call-it-anything-other-than-war with its neighbors. 

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