War, or Special Military Operation?

In the wake of the bombing campaign now being carried out by the United States military, serious questions remain about the goals and the legality of the aggressive action. Indeed, even calling it a war was controversial. 

Numerous Republican politicians and cabinet members refused to use the word, instead opting for more restrained and euphemistic phrases such as "limited combat operations.” The reason for this is probably twofold: to avoid legal scrutiny, as Congress is supposed to be the only body able to start war, and to dodge public ire over another American war in the Middle East. 

One of Trump’s main campaign promises was to avoid more “forever wars”, framing his opponent Kamala Harris as a warmonger. Of course, Trump could not maintain the necessary discipline for long, coming out and calling the conflict a war and laying out a multi-month timetable for it. 

The entire initial fiasco about naming is reminiscent of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which the Russian government refused to call a war, rather using the nice label “special military operation.” Calling it a war was illegal in Russia, even though now most Russian propagandists allow that the four year conflict cannot be termed anything else without incurring a charge of absurdity.