Byron York:
In the last few days, Obama administration officials have frequently faced the question: Is the fighting in Libya a war? From military officers to White House spokesmen up to the president himself, the answer is no. But that leaves the question: What is it?
In a briefing on board Air Force One Wednesday, deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes took a crack at an answer. "I think what we are doing is enforcing a resolution that has a very clear set of goals, which is protecting the Libyan people, averting a humanitarian crisis, and setting up a no-fly zone," Rhodes said. "Obviously that involves kinetic military action, particularly on the front end."
Rhodes' words echoed a description by national security adviser Tom Donilon in a briefing with reporters two weeks ago as the administration contemplated action in Libya. "Military steps -- and they can be kinetic and non-kinetic, obviously the full range -- are not the only method by which we and the international community are pressuring Gadhafi," Donilon said.
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The military uses "kinetic" to describe operations where bullets are flying and your are killing people and breaking things. Non kinetic operations when done by the military usually involve some form of counterinsurgency warfare in the political realm. When governments engage in non kinetic operations against an adversary they can include such things as sanctions in lieu of kinetic operations to achieve objectives. But when
von Clausewitz described war as a continuation of policy by other means, he was referring to kinetic operations.
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