What Is The Definition Of A War?

...or the end of a war: the outcome, who wins, who loses, what constitutes the death toll and so on, questions which interest us all. As an exemplar of the mind of the present Administration, we present the following bit from the soon to be Ex-Attorney General of Freedonia: http://thinkprogress.org/2007/09/07/a-loyal-bushie-to-the-very-end/  

"From the Hartford Courant: One cadet asked Gonzales when the war will be considered finished. Gonzales replied, “What I say is: It’s not over today. There are people still plotting against Americans today. I can’t tell you when it’s going to be over.”

Since there were people plotting against America before 9/11, before Desert Storm, before the bombing of the Beirut barracks, we see an implicit elongation of the State of War backwards in time; that is, if one is adept ideologically to see it. There is also the implication that such a War is over when "I say it's over" and not a second before. Since I have a new def of war and I may run it backwards in time, I may just as well run it forwards in time. It is the war which never ends.