SWJED
03-27-2006, 09:58 AM
27 Washington Post commentary - Mideast Civil War Stories (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/24/AR2006032401289.html) by Doug Tunnell.
...First, a civil war is not a volcano. It does not erupt. No flags drop at the starting line. No balloon goes up. Civil war doesn't break out, so much as germinate. It is an evil seed, buried deep within the minds of those who prosecute it...
There seems to be no universally accepted definition of a civil war. But then, civil war is in no way universal. It is brutally specific, horribly individual.
Don't look for armored columns breaking through the berm. A civil war doesn't start on a battlefield. It starts in hearts and minds.
...First, a civil war is not a volcano. It does not erupt. No flags drop at the starting line. No balloon goes up. Civil war doesn't break out, so much as germinate. It is an evil seed, buried deep within the minds of those who prosecute it...
There seems to be no universally accepted definition of a civil war. But then, civil war is in no way universal. It is brutally specific, horribly individual.
Don't look for armored columns breaking through the berm. A civil war doesn't start on a battlefield. It starts in hearts and minds.