[link|http://www.nhgazette.com/cgi-bin/NHGstore.cgi?user_action=list&category=%20NEWS%3B%20Chickenhawks|Chickenhawks]:
Chickenhawk n. A person enthusiastic about war, provided someone else fights it; particularly when that enthusiasm is undimmed by personal experience with war; most emphatically when that lack of experience came in spite of ample opportunity in that person\ufffds youth.
I think the term came from the old Foghorn Leghorn cartoons in which a tiny young chickenhawk would attempt to drag Foghorn off for dinner. In that case, he was harmless. The term has morphed as indicated above.
It's sometimes used, though, to tar war supporters who didn't serve in the military as if military service is somehow a necessary prerequisite to having a valid opinion about it. That is, if someone was in the Army or Marines during a military conflict they somehow automatically have more credibility than someone who didn't. (E.g. I don't think Al Gore being a [link|http://www.snopes.com/military/goreviet.htm|reporter in Vietnam] gave him special insight on Vietnam or Iraq
on its own.) I don't care for the term, or that line of reasoning, much myself. It's too much of an
ad hominem for my taste. Good arguments should be able to stand up no matter who puts them forth.
Cheers,
Scott.