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Agonistic Politics and The ‘War on Terror’. Christa Davis Acampora IAS Fellow Hunter and The Graduate Center City University of New York. "this crusade, this war on terrorism, is going to take awhile". — George W. Bush, September 16, 2001. Theories of Being Human and the Political
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Agonistic Politics and The ‘War on Terror’ Christa Davis Acampora IAS Fellow Hunter and The Graduate Center City University of New York
"this crusade, this war on terrorism, is going to take awhile" —George W. Bush, September 16, 2001
Theories of Being Human and the Political Political Agonism Ways of Being Opposed The Structure of Opposition of ‘The Axis of Evil’ Enmity, Sovereignty, and War The Disappearance of the Enemy A Warrior’s Story
Challenges for Modern Democracies Legitimation Recognition of genuine difference and disagreement Creating Community
Ways of Being Opposed • Good/Bad • Good/Evil
“We are not deceived by their pretenses to piety. We have seen their kind before. They are the heirs of all the murderous ideologies of the 20th century. By sacrificing human life to serve their radical visions—by abandoning every value except the will to power—they follow in the path of fascism, and Nazism, and totalitarianism. And they will follow that path all the way, to where it ends: in history's unmarked grave of discarded lies” —George W. Bush, September 20, 2001
“At present the United States faces no global rival. America’s grand strategy should aim to preserve and extend this advantageous position as far into the future as possible.” —Project for the New American Century,“Rebuilding America’s Defenses”
The Mission for “Pax Americana”: “to preserve an international security environment conducive to American interests and ideals” … “the task is to secure and expand the ‘zones of democratic peace;’ to deter the rise of a new great-power competitor; defend key regions of Europe, East Asia, and the Middle East; and to preserve American preeminence through the coming transformation of war made possible by new technologies.” —Project for the New American Century,“Rebuilding America’s Defenses”
“As the world’s sole superpower [it is] the final guarantor of security, democratic freedoms and individual political rights” —Project for the New American Century,“Rebuilding America’s Defenses”
“The distinction of friend and enemy denotes the utmost degree of intensity of a union or separation, of an association or dissociation.” —Carl Schmitt,The Concept of the Political
Sovereignty refers to the location of decisive power, ultimate authority; thus only sovereign groups or entities can organize politically in friend-enemy relations, because only such sovereign entities have the power to make judgements and take actions that distinguish others as friends or enemies.
“By virtue of this power over the physical life of men, the political community transcends all other associations or societies.” —Carl Schmitt,The Concept of the Political
“Humanity as such cannot wage war because it has no enemy … The concept of humanity excludes the concept of the enemy, because the enemy does not cease to be a human being….” —Carl Schmitt,The Concept of the Political
“To confiscate the word humanity, to invoke and monopolize such a term probably has certain incalculable effects, such as denying the enemy the quality of being human and declaring him to be an outlaw of humanity; and a war can thereby be driven to the most extreme inhumanity.” —Carl Schmitt,The Concept of the Political
“the worst confusion arises when concepts such as justice and freedom are used to legitimize one’s own political associations and to disqualify or demoralize the enemy...” … such as ideas as the basis for war are “sinister or crazy” —Carl Schmitt,The Concept of the Political
“the offices of the soldier, sailor, airman, or marine … arise from the creation of conventional social offices” to protect the citizenry. But “our status as human beings … is ontologically prior to any social position one may occupy [and this] generates moral principles to which we claim we ought to adhere” —Westhusing, “Killing Al Qaeda the Right Way”
“if the office of soldier arises from the moral obligation to protect innocents, it is contradictory for the soldier to intentionally harm innocents in order to protect some other innocents.”
The “ethical divide that now exists between the Coalition’s war effort, which disdains the intentional targeting of innocents, and the terrorists, who do not hesitate to slaughter directly thousands of innocents … the war on terror requires for its success that we separate ourselves ethically from those whom we fight.”
“peace and counter terrorism operations require an explicit acknowledgement of both the commanders’ moral responsibility for force protection and the military members’ moral justification to defend themselves fully” —Westhusing, “Taking Terrorism and ROE Seriously”
Westhusing’s worldview was “surprisingly limited. He could not shift his mid-set from the military notion of completing a mission irrespective of cost, nor could he change his belief that doing the right thing because it was the right thing to do should be the sole motivator for businesses.” —Army Psychologist
“It shows how one man’s life and the fervent beliefs that defined it, were crushed by the corruption and deceit that he saw around him.” —Robert Bryce, The Texas Observer
“The More You Protect Your Force, the Less Secure You Are” “The Best Weapons for COIN Do Not Shoot” “Sometimes Doing Nothing Is the Best Reaction” “Most Important Decisions Are Not Made By Generals” Army Field Manual COIN Draft
