No More 'War On Terror' For Britain

I've given some analysis of the phrase 'war on terror' on here before, namely the use of it as justification for Bush's vigilantism. To me, the phrase is both illogical and inaccurate, at least insofar as the 'war' is currently being prosecuted. It describes a 'war' that will only be 'won' the day everyone on earth stops killing each other. Literally. While I'm all for this effort, I don't see the wisdom in creating the impression that you're going to keep dropping bombs on people as the first step towards 'victory'.

I thought it'd be worth mentioning that, according to The Guardian, the Brits agree with me:

Cabinet ministers have been told by the Foreign Office to drop the phrase 'war on terror' and other terms seen as liable to anger British Muslims and increase tensions more broadly in the Islamic world.
The shift marks a turning point in British political thinking about the strategy against extremism and underlines the growing gulf between the British and American approaches to the continuing problem of radical Islamic militancy. It comes amid increasingly evident disagreements between President George Bush and Tony Blair over policy in the Middle East.

Experts have welcomed the move away from one of the phrases that has most defined the debate on Islamic extremism, but called it 'belated'.
'It's about time,' said Garry Hindle, terrorism expert at the Royal United Services Institute in London. 'Military terminology is completely counter-productive, merely contributing to isolating communities. This is a very positive move.'

A Foreign Office spokesman said the government wanted to 'avoid reinforcing and giving succour to the terrorists' narrative by using language that, taken out of context, could be counter-productive'. The same message has been sent to British diplomats and official spokespeople around the world.

When it comes to defending the nation from outside threats, there's a smart way to do it, and there's Bush's way.

Time magazine's October 31, 1977 cover.

Sadly, it almost gave me pleasure to reflect on the days when the terrorists made demands after they hijacked airliners. It's been an evolving struggle of quite some time now. Indeed, part of that struggle included planning and practicing for the day when terrorists would hijack planes and use them as weapons. Bush has taken an old descriptor of this effort and re-branded it as a carte blanche, and sold it to us using fearmongering and plenty of references to 9/11. (Oddly enough, the cover image appears to have been scrubbed from the wikipedia entry for 'war on terror'.)

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Posted by ChenZhen at December 10, 2006 09:04 PM | TrackBack