Postmodernism, Language Policy, and Warfare in the Middle East: The Impact of Neoteric Experimenting in Military Terminology on the Outcome of the Second Lebanon War

Abstract

Petnaest godina nakon Drugoga libanonskog rata – vođenoga 2006. između Države Izraela i Hezbolaha, militantne šijitske organizacije u Libanonu – analitičari su uglavnom jednodušni u ocjeni kako je Izrael u najmanju ruku doživio vojni neuspjeh u tome ratu. Premda danas s višegodišnjim odmakom ocjene ishoda rata nisu više toliko kategoričke i apsolutne, neki od čimbenika koji su utjecali na neuspješnost Izraelskih obrambenih snaga (DF) ipak su se pokazali relevantnima, a njihov odjek prepoznatljiv je i u aktualnoj izraelskoj vojnoj misli. Stoga je u ovome radu istraživački interes usmjeren na dosad nedovoljno proučavan aspekt Drugoga libanonskog rata – jezik. Pritom se tematizira terminologija koju su izraelske vojne snage rabile u ratnim operacijama protiv Hezbolaha. Prema izvješću izraelskoga povjerenstva ustrojenoga nakon završetka rata terminologija uvedena u vojne doktrine netom prije sukoba na više se mjesta izrijekom apostrofira kao jedna od determinanti izraelskoga vojnog neuspjeha. Istraživanjem primarnih izvora te sagledavanjem recentnih reevaluacija učinaka i ishoda rata osvjetljuju se razmjeri posljedica paušalnoga pristupa oblikovanju vojnojezične politike. Podrobnije se problematizira znanstvena težina koju terminologija nosi u jeziku svake struke, a posebice u vojno-obrambenim znanostima.Fifteen years after the Second Lebanon War – fought in July 2006 between the state of Israel and Hezbollah, a militant Shiite organization in Lebanon – analysts are largely unanimous in assessing that Israel, at the very least, experienced military failure in that war. Today, with years gone by, assessments of the outcome of the war are no longer so categorical and absolute. Some of the factors influencing the failure of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have however proved relevant, and their repercussions are recognizable in current Israeli military thought. Therefore, in this paper, the research interest is focused on a thus far insufficiently studied aspect of the Second Lebanon War – the language. More specifically, the terminology used by Israeli military forces in war operations against Hezbollah is discussed. According to a report by an Israeli commission established after the end of the war, the terminology introduced into military doctrines just prior to the conflict is explicitly emphasized in several places as one of the determinants of Israeli military failure. The research of primary sources and the review of recent re-evaluations of the impact and outcomes of the war shed light on the extent of the consequences of the frivolous approach to the formation of military language policy. The research elaborates on the scholarly weight that terminology carries in the language of every profession, and especially in the defense sciences