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Thursday, July 28, 2005
Repositioning the Rhetoric
On Monday I wrote about some issues I had with the Bush Administration's sales pitch for the ongoing War in Iraq:
It appears that the Bush Administration was listening. Apparently we are no longer fighting A War on Terror. Instead we are now in the midst of a Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism:
This actually makes more sense to me, although it is hardly as catchy. A Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism is certainly more accurate.
-It is global in the sense the HERE that the US Government wants to prevent terrorists from striking has become just about anywhere. There are US citizens around the world. There are American interests, influence and culture throughout the global village.
-It is a struggle in that it has no end in sight.
-And well, flying a jet into a building or blowing oneself up on a train is certainly both violent and extreme.
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The rhetoric of "fighting THEM (Arabs/Muslims/Terrorists) over THERE (in Iraq/Afghanistan/The Middle Eat) so we don't have to fight them HERE (on American soil) is simply unreasonable, and dangerous.
You CAN fight a war on terrorism.
You WILL have to fight a war on terrorism, indefinitely.
But you cannot WIN a War on Terrorism.
At least I don't see how.
Because a terrorist is an individual.
And there are an awful lot of individuals among the 6 billion people on this planet.
It appears that the Bush Administration was listening. Apparently we are no longer fighting A War on Terror. Instead we are now in the midst of a Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism:
It was President Bush himself who insisted on calling it a global war on terror. He wanted to indicate that this was not just another piddling law enforcement action, but an all-out, full-scale military response to Sept. 11 that would involve U.S. troops around the globe.
"A war between good and evil," he called it. A war "to save the world."
But now, apparently, a decision has been made that the language of war isn't working for him anymore. So in recent days, the "global war on terror" — which had been conveniently shortened to GWOT in bureaucrat-speak — has been shelved in favor of the "global struggle against violent extremism."
This actually makes more sense to me, although it is hardly as catchy. A Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism is certainly more accurate.
-It is global in the sense the HERE that the US Government wants to prevent terrorists from striking has become just about anywhere. There are US citizens around the world. There are American interests, influence and culture throughout the global village.
-It is a struggle in that it has no end in sight.
-And well, flying a jet into a building or blowing oneself up on a train is certainly both violent and extreme.
