As he did during the first gulf war, top cognitive scientist/linguist George Lakoff writes about the current war in Metaphor and War, Again:

My 1990 paper did not stop Gulf War I. This paper will not stop Gulf War II. So why bother?

I think it is crucially important to understand the cognitive dimensions of politics – especially when most of our conceptual framing is unconscious and we may not be aware of our own metaphorical thought. I have been referred to as a “cognitive activist” and I think the label fits me well. As a professor, I do analyses of linguistic and conceptual issues in politics, and I do them as accurately as I can. But that analytic act is a political act: Awareness matters. Being able to articulate what is going on can change what is going on – at least in the long run.

Lakoff is also co-author (with Mark Johnson) of the seminal work “Philosophy in the Flesh: the embodied mind and its challenge to western thought”, a book some cognoscenti refer to as “Phil Phlesh”.

Thanks to Doc Searls for the link.