entire book - Chris Hables Gray

Postmodern Wars Imaginary and Real [ 155 ]
that the policies of nuclear warfare they were proposing were questionable
or even invalid. But they would return to more traditional military calculations
and rhetorical tropes from modern war as the interview wore on. It
seemed traditional defense policies were just too psychologically gratifying
to resist. Kull traces this back to the very roots of war as "ritual . . . that
involved an enactment of fundamental mythical and religious themes" (pp.
302-307). He goes on to show (pp. 308-312) the religious bases for nuclear
policy, with a quote from Richard Nixon on the need for the "drama" of good
and evil, and with a survey that counted 35 percent of all members of
Congress agreeing that "God has chosen America to be a light to the world."
Kull found that the assumption that nations must compete and therefore,
perhaps tragically, there will be war were ontological beliefs, beyond question
for most of his subjects. His frightening conclusion was that
[such] ontological beliefs, to play a critical role in shaping behavior, do
not even have to be fully conscious. As fundamental assumptions they
form the bedrock of culture from which arise values and ultimately
concepts of the national interest. The desire to behave in ways that are
consonant with these deeply held structures is quite powerful and, as has
been demonstrated again and again over the centuries, can be more
fundamental than the desire to survive, (p. 310)
The Reagan administration took such feelings to their limits. Theorists
such as Colin Gray openly talked about winning a war through decapitation
(nuking the other side's leaders, presumably by a preemptive first strike).
President Ronald Reagan dreamed about ending the threat of war, at least
for the United States, by hiding behind the SDI shield. Meanwhile, in
deepest secret, his administration made plans not only for fighting and
winning World War III but World War IV as well! Every possible justification
for weapons seemed to have a place (Scheer, 1982). Under President George
Bush the fascination was with midintensity and low-intensity conflict, but
waging nuclear war was never renounced. All avenues that might lead to war
were kept open, but the low road is the easiest traveled.
A Genealogy of Little Wars
In the beginning all wars were little, very little. They were fought between
dozens or perhaps hundreds of men. Only in the last 5,000 years have wars
been a matter of thousands of men in armies confronting each other. Since
then, most "little wars" have been when ancient or modern armies fought
rebellions, confronted nomads or met ritual warriors in unequal combat.
Irregular, "guerrilla" forms of resistance did often hold off ancient armies,