Perceptions of civil war

I was thinking the same example yesterday: The denial in question is why most of the US media and the Bush Administration persist in refusing to accept the reality of the civil war already well underway in Iraq? What do we need in order to be convinced? Guys wearing blue and butternut squaring off in an apple orchard in Gettysburg?

I think the problem is that this is a civil war of a modern type. There isn't going to be modern conventional armies facing each other on the battlefield. There also won't be any winners. The fight will last decades.

Comments

[Mark]

John,

Since you bring up the American Civil war, would you agree that the Democratic Party reconstituted its military wing and reversed the battlefield outcome by 1880? The transformation of the Confederate Army into swarms of KKK night riders represents just the sort of open-source military you've been discussing.

[Ken Hagler]

An interesting example, since the American "Civil War" wasn't really a civil war at all, but a war of secession. Which raises the question of what the goals of the various Iraqi rebels are: do they want to control Iraq, or secede from it?

Unfortunately the media generally just parrots the Feds' "they're all terrorists who hate our freedom" nonsense. I've seen bits and pieces suggesting that they're split between those goals, but nothing really clear.

[John Robb]

They wan't disorder and a hollow state. The Baath want it because it will make the case for their leadership. The jihadis want it because it is a necessary precondition for the return of the Caliphate. The criminals want it because it allows them to make money.