"War on Terror": Worst Phrase Ever... And Still Being Used

One of the good things that John Edwards did during his campaign one year ago (already one year ago!) was reject the idea that the US is engaged in a Global War on Terror – GWOT, in military-speak. He called it a “bumper-sticker” phrase, something that is used to sell a government agenda, but that is ultimately simplistic, counter-productive and wrong. I couldn’t agree more: as many people, including Joe Biden, have pointed out, “terror” is a tactic, one used by many different groups for many different reasons. There are Islamic groups, Colombian groups, Chechnyan groups, etc. each one with a different political goal. Even the Islamic groups themselves are not a monolithic block, some groups, like Hamas, having more local concerns than global groups such as Al-Qaida. Using one phrase to group all these groups under the same term: terror, lumps individual problems into one big problem. Worse, by declaring “war” it seems to say that all these fights require the same level of aggression and unrelenting commitment from us. I hate the term.

During the campaign I was skeptical that Obama would banish the term from use. When the Democratic candidates were all asked one year ago if they believed that a GWOT existed Obama said yes. When he was on Bill O’Reilly in the fall he said he believed a we were in a War on Terror. Now that he’s won I’ve been eagerly awaiting to see what would happen (especially with Biden as veep). So far I’m pretty disappointed. Today Obama named Leon Panetta to head the CIA and in the press conference he said used the damn phrase: “I commit to consulting closely with my former colleagues in the Congress to form the kind of partnership we need if we’re to win the war on terror". It’ll be sad if Obama keeps this up once in office, but I’m afraid it could be part of his political caution and pragmatism where he doesn’t want to get into useless a fight with conservatives over it, and where maybe he thinks it’s politically useful to keep it to show his hawkish credentials (and of course, maybe he actually believes it). It’s this kind of small, but telling detail that makes me wonder how bold he will be. I’m still hoping that they will slowly sweep it under a rug and then just get rid of the damn thing.