In the first four parts of this topic, I insisted we can’t take “cyber-war” or “cyber-terrorism” seriously until certain people agree to take on pivotal roles … and until the world’s militaries develop a brevity code for their cyberspace weapon systems … and until society erects a military cyberspace museum.

We can’t take “cyber-war” seriously until we conse­crate mili­tary & civilian ceme­teries for all the brave souls and hapless children who perished in a horrific net­work battle.

But we need more than just role models and compressed speech and indoor dioramas. Put simply: we can’t take “cyber-war” or “cyber-terrorism” seriously until we and our enemies each consecrate a military cemetery to the memory of those brave souls who perished in a horrifying network battle.

Mankind has erected many burial sites after many grisly battles. Who can forget the horrifying War Between The States and its series of national cemeteries such as the one at Gettysburg? I recently visited those hallowed grounds to understand what a future cyber-cemetery will look like.

Military graveyards play an incredibly important role in society. Countries will go so far as to dedicate land to foreign soldiers who died in their defense. France, for example — as much as we sometimes despise them and as much as they sometimes despise us — has graced us with the soil we needed to bury our dead in military cemeteries consecrated to the Great Wars.

“But Rob,” you interject. “U.S. military cemeteries accept the dead from all wars, not just a specific war.” Very true. Gettysburg’s Civil War cemetery, for example, now bears the remains of airmen from later wars such as WWII and the Cold War.

Remember this — President Abraham Lincoln consecrated the Gettysburg cemetery to the memory of soldiers who died in the Civil War. The site’s museum and its many state monuments augment the cemetery’s raison d’être.

Folks, I’ll repeat myself. We can’t take “cyber-war” or “cyber-terrorism” seriously until we and our enemies each consecrate a military cemetery for those brave souls who perished in a horrific cyber war. It’s just that simple.

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We’ll also need to prepare land for civilian cemeteries. After all — every real war generates massive amounts of collateral damage.

War-related civilian graveyards play an equally important role in society. Of greater note: Hiroshima & Nagasaki each consecrated cemeteries to the memory of hundreds of thousands of civilians who perished in an atomic mushroom cloud. Of lesser note: Dresden erected a WWII memorial at a mass grave to remember tens of thousands of civilians who perished in a major bombing campaign.

Any number of fearmongers insist “network warfare” will someday inflict civilian casualties on a scale equal to or greater than Dresden — perhaps even in a league with Hiroshima’s ghastly death toll. This fear­mon­gering forces us to ask a philosophical question: “what kind of eternal obelisk will our society erect at a cyber-war civilian cemetery?” Will they commission an elaborate stone keyboard monument like the one seen in this photo?

Okay, now here’s a trick question. When will the residents of Tbilisi erect a memorial for the thousands of civilians who were “deleted” in the 2008 Russian-Georgian cyber-war?

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