Declaring War

What will the America administration and other governments following a bad example declare war on next?

So far there have been wars declared on:
-- illiteracy
-- drugs
-- guns
-- prostitution
-- terror
-- teenage pregnancy
-- gang warfare
-- illegal immigration
-- Spam


This strikes me as the epitome of stupidity.

The fact is, all these social ills will exist as long as people remain human, which I think will probably be for a long time.

While it seems like a good idea to declare wars, which by definition are all out efforts to be won at all costs, the truth is that none of these social ills fit the definition. For each of the wars declared above, the cost of total victory is much too high for any country to possibly pay (if indeed it can be paid.)

Also, many of the wars that are declared nowadays just cannot be won by any practical measure. The most prominent war underway today, the US-led war on terror, is one that cannot be won as long as
somewhere where is a single human being who is willing to use force to try to drive fear into the hearts of others to achieve their goals.

It goes without saying that a war against terror (defined whatever way it is defined) cannot be won by engaging in acts of terror.

US forces in Iraq have already engaged in terror, unless "terror" is defined as "stuff that they do to hurt us, and excluding anything that we do to hurt ourselves and others."

Any other definition includes the acts committed by US forces: torture, murder of innocent people and the violation of human rights and the Geneva Convention.

It would be much better for the US and others to stop all these ridiculous wars, and admit that a mistake was made in calling them in the first place.

Instead, the wars should be replaced by projects, campaigns and initiatives that have specific measurable goals.

For example, the "War Against Terror" (which was even better phrased as a war against terrorism) should be replaced by "The Campaign To End Terrorist Acts by Al Quaida by 2010."

In turn, the "War Against Teen Pregnancy" should be replaced by "The Project to Prevent Unwanted Pregnancies by 2015."

The world would simply be a better place if there was a joint commitment to end all wars, and not to declare any new ones.