American journalists dismiss formality as much as the American public does. As a realistic formalist, I understand and accept that attitude until it interferes with accuracy. Then, I have to object. Such is the case with the recent news that the duration of American combat in Afghanistan, at 104 months, now exceeds the length of American combat in Vietnam at 103 months. Saying so is accurate; calling Afghanistan America's longest war is not.Calling some government program "war," as in naming addiction suppression "the War On Drugs," can be seen as a clear metaphor. We understand that the phrase expresses the presumed intensity of the government's motivation, and does not fit the definition of real war, which is both a physical act and a legal status. The laws of war define "War" as both the armed conflict between states (nations) and the special legal statuses of belligerency and neutrality that armed conflict confers on the signatories to the treaties...(Read Full Post)