:''For other uses, see Chickenhawk''.
'''Chickenhawk''' is an Epithet used in United_States politics to criticize a politician, bureaucrat, or commentator who votes for War, supports war, commands a war, or develops war policy, but has not personally served in the Military, especially one who opted out of a previous war (or a current war, if it would be plausible for the person to participate in it) on dubious grounds. Generally, it is not a label applied to essentially "Dovish" leaders who support defensive wars, "humanitarian interventions," or UN operations.
The term is generally used in the Ad_hominem circumstantial context: since a so-called "chickenhawk" has not served in war, and may have actively avoided service, the implication is that that person is ill-equipped to support a war. This is usually argued to be the case because of the "chickenhawk's" lack of experience with the true costs of war, or the "chickenhawk's" perceived hypocrisy and lack of moral standing to force others to risk death or injury when they were not willing to risk their own life and limb when given the chance.
== Origin ==
Chickenhawk is a compound of ''"chicken"'' as in "coward" and ''"hawk"'' as in "pro-war," thus a chickenhawk is someone who is alleged to be in favor of a war as long as someone else does the fighting and dying. While the term may have been used as early as the WWII era, its use was revived circa 1992 in a Newsgroup post (first recorded USENET mention: http://groups-beta.google.com/group/alt.politics.elections/msg/0fa832c89993c6a7?dmode=source&hl;=en) and later in the printed Media on November_15, 2000 article by Journalist Richard_Roeper in the ''Chicago_Sun-Times''. He criticized what, in his opinion, was George_W._Bush's "chickenhawk stance on the Vietnam_War." The term may have been used before that date during campaigning for the 2000 U.S. Presidential election—opponents of Dick_Cheney, who never served in the United_States armed forces, were upset by his criticism of the Clinton_Administration's military policies. The dispute about Cheney's role intensified in the 2004 campaign. When Cheney criticized the military-issues voting record of Democratic nominee John_Kerry, a Vietnam veteran, Democrats responded by highlighting Cheney's comment that he himself had not served in the military because he had had "other priorities". http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040427-120352-4200r.htm, http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=37717
The term "chickenhawk" has also been used for decades in the homosexual community to refer to older gay men who cruise for very young gay men or gay boys. Given that it has a military and a homosexual context, when it is used to label non-veteran advocates of military action it has the capacity to be a vicious Double_entendre.
Previously, the term "war wimp" was used, most notably by former Congressman Andrew_Jacobs (Democrat–Indiana), a veteran of the United_States_Marine_Corps and the Korean_War, who labeled whom he saw as "overzealous" supporters of the Cold_War as "war wimps," if they had not served in the Korean_War or the Vietnam_War.http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/op-ed/vandeerlin/20020904-9999_1e4deerlin.html
The association between chickenhawks and war may be related to the author Robert_Mason's 1983 bestselling autobiography, ''Chickenhawk'' ISBN 0140072187, about his wartime service in Vietnam during which he flew 1,000 Helicopter missions. Mason published a sequel in 1993, ''Chickenhawk: Back in the World'' ISBN 0670848352, covering his difficult return to Civilian life.
Although he did not use the word "chickenhawk", Civil War General William_Tecumseh_Sherman noted the phenomenon in his time:
:It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is hell.
== Political use ==
The term highlights that some of those who take interventionist (or militarist) policy positions have not themselves served in combat, or have used influence to avoid military service. Many politicians from the Baby_Boomer generation, who avoided serving in Vietnam have faced this label, including George_W._Bush and Bill_Clinton. The term has also been applied to writers and broadcast commentators who advocate aggressive military actions although they have no personal military experience. Examples include radio talk-show host Rush_Limbaugh and military historian Victor_Davis_Hanson.
==Chickenhawk counterarguments==
War supporters who have not served in the military have made a number of counterarguments that, they claim, expose fallacies in the chickenhawk argument. Among these points are
* The Founding_Fathers explicitly designed the government of the United_States_of_America so that the military would be subordinate to the will of the people through their elected representatives and the President of the United States of America who are answerable to the ordinary citizenry.http://slate.msn.com/?id=2073772,http://www.townhall.com/columnists/michaelkelly/mk20021030.shtml
* The idea that a veteran would have an inherent moral superiority with regard to military matters is baseless because a veteran could be guilty of war crimes, or may have served only because of conscription.
* Using the same logic that only veterans have the experience and moral standing to advocate war, then only veterans have the experience and moral standing to oppose war.
* That civilians who are explicitly targeted in war should have the right to voice their views on the conduct of war regardless of whether or not they have served. http://slate.msn.com/?id=2073772
* That a majority of the voting public is ineligible or unlikely to serve in combat, as it includes Women, the Elderly, men over age 50, the Disabled, and homosexuals. Using service as a Litmus_test for voicing a viewpoint would invalidate the views of most of the nation.http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/jonah080702.asp
*That Presidents Woodrow_Wilson and Franklin_Delano_Roosevelt proved capable leaders of the military in wartime, despite having no personal military experience.
*That extending the Chickenhawk argument into other American political debates would mean that only Women should comment on Abortion, only Crime victims on Criminal_justice, and so forth.
*Double standard. Some claim that the use of the term is not applied equally, notably as to President Bill Clinton who avoided the draft during the Vietnam War but ordered US soldiers to fight in numerous humanitarian and armed conflicts. Others claim that Clinton is not vulnerable to the claim of being a chickenhawk (although some have made that claim) because they argue he was not a military hawk and practiced military restraint. However, that is disputed since his administration performed numerous unilateral military actions and Clinton even initially supported Operation_Iraqi_Freedom.
*Irrelevance. Some claim that the American voters have proven that they do not care about a politician's wartime service or lack thereof since both George W. Bush and Bill Clinton twice were elected president by defeating decorated War_heroes despite their own lack of wartime service.
However, these arguments fail to appreciate the implied distinction that ''chickenhawk'' applies to those who actively and repeatedly ''avoided'' military service, as opposed to not merely choosing voluntarily to serve.
==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
*Chickenhawk? by Michael_Kelly
*"Armchair General" by Christopher_Hitchens in ''Slate''
*http://www.nhgazette.com/cgi-bin/NHGstore.cgi?user_action=list&category;=+NEWS%3B+ChickenhawksThe Chickenhawk Database
*article: "Brain of the Chickenhawk", by Lew_Rockwell
Category:Pejorative_political_terms