Is a war a war??

[riversedge]

dah!!

For a regime that insisted on renaming the Department of Defense the Department of War, and a new and cocky Secretary of War who can’t stop lecturing about lethality and maintaining a warrior ethos, these guys are surprisingly afraid to call a war a war.

— Stephen Schwartz (@atomicanalyst.bsky.social) 2026-03-05T17:27:06.420Z

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. MaddowBlog-Republicans can't even agree on whether the war in Iran is an actual 'war'

When the question is �Is the United States currently at war?� and the answer is �It depends on whom you ask,� there�s a problem.

When the question is, “Is the United States currently at war?” and the answer is, “It depends on whom you ask,” there’s a problem.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-03-03T19:28:30.429Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/republicans-cant-even-agree-on-whether-the-war-in-iran-is-an-actual-war

The list of questions surrounding Donald Trump�s military offensive in Iran is not short. At this point, neither the president nor anyone on his team has explained in a coherent way why the administration launched this offensive, what its objectives are, what the plan is to achieve those goals, whether the war is legal, how much it�s expected to cost or how long it�s expected to last.

But hanging overhead is a different kind of question: Is the United States currently at war?.....

On Monday morning, however, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested more than once during a briefing that the U.S. is currently engaged in a war. (But then, he would say that, having taken the trouble to rebrand his whole department as the �Department of War.�) A few hours later, however, Mullin appeared on CNN and insisted, �This isn�t a war.�

A day later, NOTUS reported, �In the talking-points memo that the White House reportedly sent to Hill Republicans, the suggested boilerplate response to the straightforward question, �Is the U.S. at war with Iran?� notably does not answer the question.�

White House talking points for congressional Republicans say we're not at war, we're just in "major combat operations against Iran" lol

— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein.bsky.social) 2026-03-02T23:57:38.969Z

When the question is �Is the United States currently at war?� and the answer is �It depends on whom you ask,� there�s a problem.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. Here is a pdf of the trump talking points

[dalton99a]

3. NEXT: Trump changes Department of War to Department of Combat Operations.

"See, there is no war!"

[Solly Mack]

4. Concepts of a plan of war.

[Jim__]

5. " When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean--neither more nor less" - Humpty Dumpty