Absolutely.

“I suppose you could argue, though it might be unacceptable to your audience, George Washington was a terrorist. He raised an army against the King of England who was a legitimate king of the colonies.” - Tony Benn

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Viva Fidel

"If there ever was in the history of humanity an enemy who was truly universal, an enemy whose acts and moves trouble the entire world, threaten the entire world, attack the entire world in any way or another, that real and really universal enemy is precisely Yankee imperialism"

"North Americans don't understand... that our country is not just Cuba; our country is also humanity"

a battle between nations and their governments where violence is the method to resolve the issues. We are not fighting against a nation or their government or their (the government's/nation's) military.

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Set your destination with your heart, get there with your mind.

"The wisest men follow their own direction." - Euripides

So a Guerilla WAR is not a war ?

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Viva Fidel

"If there ever was in the history of humanity an enemy who was truly universal, an enemy whose acts and moves trouble the entire world, threaten the entire world, attack the entire world in any way or another, that real and really universal enemy is precisely Yankee imperialism"

"North Americans don't understand... that our country is not just Cuba; our country is also humanity"

Not by my book, just like the war on drugs is not a real war, nor is the card game war. I don't care what the name is, it depends on what it actually is.

According to the Collins Essential English Dictionary (the first definition that they give us), "open armed conflict between two or more countries or groups"

But they also list, "a particular armed conflict" and "any conflict or contest"

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Set your destination with your heart, get there with your mind.

"The wisest men follow their own direction." - Euripides

I have a hard time using the term "war" in relation to a philosophy or other vague ideal. You can't really have a "war on terrorism", can you? War on a method? "War on poverty".....what, poor people are enemy combatants?

Language still matters, and it's not just being fussy about it.

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This is what happens when we have panderers instead of leaders...

There is a difference between a war on a vague concept and an actual war, as a guerilla war is.


Well even your first definition gives it away - "open armed conflict between two or more countries or groups"


That clearly shows that a guerilla war is a war and by all accounts the conflict in Iraq remains a war.

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Viva Fidel

"If there ever was in the history of humanity an enemy who was truly universal, an enemy whose acts and moves trouble the entire world, threaten the entire world, attack the entire world in any way or another, that real and really universal enemy is precisely Yankee imperialism"

"North Americans don't understand... that our country is not just Cuba; our country is also humanity"

Well I know this is hypothetical only, but according to international law, only military members in uniform can be killed in a nation at war (excluding collateral damage). Of course history has proved that this thinking can many times be abandoned in the face of terrible war or fear of defeat such as WWII which suffered nearly the greatest casualties in all of history's combined war due to civilian deaths in "total war". In more recent times terrorist attacks such as 9/11 were aimed at killing many and destroying enemy infrastructure to make an economic attack, which in itself is a measure of total war.

But no this is never justified, because although conscription holds citizens to fight, it does not mean all will fight. Also one must take into account women and children who do not fight.

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"...Follow the crystal star to the pyre of the flame; there exists the dwelling of the spreading fire. The heart of this life rests upon the fate of that place, and what begins there sends a contagion to the rest of the universe.
As long as the fire burns we shall never be free..." (The Shadows of Yavara, Final Reclamation)

I think you hit the nail on the head as a few others did, that not all will fullfil what the state sexpects and may not fight.

I also take your point about incidents like WW2 were the rule bookj goes out the window - rightly or wrongly.

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Viva Fidel

"If there ever was in the history of humanity an enemy who was truly universal, an enemy whose acts and moves trouble the entire world, threaten the entire world, attack the entire world in any way or another, that real and really universal enemy is precisely Yankee imperialism"

"North Americans don't understand... that our country is not just Cuba; our country is also humanity"

Only if a terrorist attack is coming.

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"I find no black men appealing, they look like giant monkeys." -LilithIshtar (some member of another forum I used to be part of)

No. Conscription is military service against the people's will.

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A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

"Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes toward the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

"I'm a panda," he says at the door. "Look it up."

The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.

"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."