Total war

"Total war not only destroys the enemy's military forces, but also brings the enemy society to an extremely personal point of decision, so that they are willing to accept a reversal of the cultural trends. The sparing of civilian lives cannot be the total war's first priority ... The purpose of total war is to permanently force your will onto another people."

A quotation widely misattributed to neoconservative commentator Michael Ledeen, but which in fact is from another National Review columnist, Adam G. Mersereau. See Ledeen and the 'total_war' misattributed quote.