Why War?: The Cultural Logic of Iraq, the Gulf War, and Suez

266 Pages·2005·1.06 MB·English

by  Philip Smith

W H Y W A R ?

P H I L I P S M I T H
W H Y W A R ?
T H E C U L T U R A L L O G I C O F I R A Q ,
T H E G U L F W A R , A N D S U E Z
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS • CHICAGO AND LONDON
PhilipSmithisassistantprofessorofsociologyanddeputydirectoroftheYaleCenterfor
CulturalSociology.Heistheauthororcoauthorofseveralbooks,includingthewidely
praisedCulturalTheory:AnIntroduction.
TheUniversityofChicagoPress,Chicago60637
TheUniversityofChicagoPress,Ltd.,London
©2005byTheUniversityofChicago
Allrightsreserved.Published2005
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 1 2 3 4 5
isbn:0-226-76388-9(cloth)
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Smith,Philip(PhilipDaniel),1964–
Whywar?:theculturallogicofIraq,theGulfWar,andSuez/PhilipSmith.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn0-226-76388-9(cloth:alk.paper)
1.Warandsociety. 2.War(Philosophy). 3.Politicalaspects. 4.Cultureconflict.
5.IrawWar,2003—Socialaspects. 6.PersianGulfWar,1991—Socialaspects.
7.Egypt—History—Intervention,1956. I.Title.
hm554.s64 2006
303.6'6—dc22 2005011958
(cid:2)(cid:1)ThepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirementsoftheAmerican
NationalStandardforInformationSciences—PermanenceofPaperforPrintedLibrary
Materials,ansiz39.48-1992.
Thisbookisdedicatedtomyparents,RaymondandValerieSmith.Ihaveoften
heardtheirown,morepersonalstoriesof“thewar”andlearnedinthisway
somethingofthemeaningsofbothwarandpeace.

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
1 WhyWar?:TheorizingtheRoleofCulture
andCivilDiscourse 3
2 InvestigatingCultureinWar:Methodology,
Causality,CaseStudies,andData 35
3 TheSuezCrisisof1956 56
4 TheGulfWarof1991 99
5 TheWarinIraqof2003 154
6 WarandNarrative 205
Postscript 229
Notes 231
References 237
Index 247

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book was written and researched while I had institutional affiliations
at various locations: the sociology department at the University of Califor-
nia, Los Angeles; the Juan March Institute in Madrid; the School of Social
Science at the University of Queensland, Australia; and the Department of
SociologyatYale.Sectionsofthisworkwereenabledbyfellowshipsupport
fromtheDelAmoFoundationandtheUniversityofCalifornia.Agooddeal
of time was spent collecting and analyzing data in the microform reading
roomatUCLA,theSterlingMemorialLibraryatYale,andthelibraryofthe
BritishConsulateinMadrid.Alongthewaycomments,challenges,andother
feedbackonwrittenmaterialwerereceivedfromJohnHeritage,RonJacobs,
ElizabethLong,MichaelMann,JeffPrager,BessRothenberg,IvanSzelenyi,
EugeneWeber,MichaelWood,andthevariousmembersoftheUCLACul-
tureClub.Therehavealsobeenmorediffuseinputsenroutefromdiverse
friendsandcolleaguestoonumeroustonameindividually.Theentiremanu-
scriptwasreadbyJeffAlexander,WendyGriswold,BarrySchwartz,andSteve
Sherwood.IamespeciallygratefultoBarryforhislongandeloquentchal-
lenges that forced clarifications and intensifications of my arguments even
ifwecouldnotcometoanyfinalagreementonthelimitstoconstructivism.
ManyenjoyableconversationswithEdmondWrightassistedmyunderstand-
ingsoftherelationshipbetweenperception,knowledge,andstorytellingand
haveshapedthisbookinsubtleways.ParticularrecognitionisduetoDoug
Mitchellasaconsummateeditorandfordemonstratingthattheleapoffaith
isnotsimplyametaphysicalconcept.DawnHallassistedthemetamorphosis