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I was reading Victor Hansons’ weekly article, this week entitled War Over The War (via ForgetFoo), and it got me thinking about war in a more general way.

Normally when I read an opinion on the current ‘war on terror’, as it’s been billed, the article is written by an American. I often find myself getting pissed off; not because i disagree with the content of the article, but i often find the American viewpoint to be somewhat polar in it’s presentation of the facts and reasoning.

What I got to thinking about is this: why do i find it so hard to see this as a war? It occurred to me that the current template for a war over in the UK is probably the second world war – it’s what we think of when considering the term ‘to be at war‘. It’s probably the same in America; after all, it was the biggest war ever fought.

The difference is that to us in Europe, the war was fought on the home front; the blitz bombed London indiscriminantly, the south coast was constantly prepared for a German invasion, and at airfields as far north as Newcastle bombers were stationed for raids against France, Germany, Poland and Norway. Even civilians saw the war first-hand.

In America, men were sent away to fight on foreign shores. Apart from several weak-hearted attempts at bombing the western seaboard from Japan (using hot air balloons and so on), there was no home front in the US.

I’m not saying that America suffered any less, or that American soldiers or civilians were any less brave than their European counterparts; i’m saying that until the bombings in London last week, I found it difficult to see the war on terror as a war that we, as an allegiance of nations, are actively involved in.

After three Angolans were jailed in the UK last week for abusing a girl they believed to be possessed, the BBC has written a feature on Angola witchcraft’s child victims.