Not only is the administration not using the term "war on terror" anymore — apparently, they don't want to discuss it much either.
In today's weekly radio address, here was the extent of President Bush's comment on terrorism:
"We're also spreading freedom, because free countries are peaceful. And we're staying on the offensive against the terrorists, fighting them abroad so we do not have to face them here at home."
I would have expected more, given that we are barely a week removed from a terrorist attack in Egypt, and a second failed effort to attack London's mass tranist system.
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Earlier this week, the Bush Administration began using the phrasing "global struggle against violent extremism" — forming the Orwellian (or possibly Christian fundamentalist) acronym Global SAVE — instead of "war on terror."
The solution is "more diplomatic, more economic, more political than it is military," Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the National Press Club.
I think there's a more practical reason, though. The U.S. can lose a war, which has a beginning, middle and end. It's harder to pinpoint losing a global struggle against violent extremism — which seemingly can last generations.
Vietnam, you might remember, was not legally a "war" but a conflict.
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But whatever the administration wants to call our fight against terrorism, it amazes me that Bush didn't speak about it more in this morning's address, given the news of the last several hours from London and Rome.
Certainly, it is a positive that Scotland Yard tracked down and seized the three remaining suspects from the failed July 21 effort to launch a second round of London mass transit terror attacks. Elsewhere in London, Scotland Yard rounded up several other suspects related to the recent terrorist attacks in the city.
Article comments
1 - JELIEL
It's because Junior isn't worried about Osama anymore, I believe he said so in a speech in 2003. Apparently he's not a priority on the war... I mean struggle against violent extremism
Does a pre-emptive strike count as extreme ?
2 - D L Ennis
This article is senseless rhetoric!
D L
3 - bobby
That's interesting about the SAVE concept concerning the Christian fundamentalists. I was personally wondering what front-burner issues they'd get involved with beyond Roe, Stem Cells, Marriage and (of course) keeping themselves tax exempt. They've got a big conversion job ahead of themselves considering that there substantially more non-Christians in the world than Christians.
4 - Dave Nalle
Well, I'm going to keep calling it the War on Terror - not just terrorism, not just extremism - but terror in all its forms, including repressive government and fearmongering and hate-politics within our own country.
Dave
5 - David R. Mark
DL -- explain your point.
6 - David R. Mark
Dave -- are you trying to imply that I am a "terrorist"?
7 - Dave Nalle
Are you saying you're a fearmongerer, a hatemonger or repressive government, David? Because I don't believe I mentioned you in my comment.
Dave
8 - David R. Mark
"including ... hate-politics within our own country."
You have previously stated that my blog was filled with hate.
And the word I used was implied, not said.
9 - Dave Nalle
But you maintain that your blog isn't motivated by hate, and you do at least maintain the pretense of reason, so where's the problem? Are we not to take you at your word?
Dave
10 - RKC
Picture this scene:
One of us volunteers to fight the international terrorists by bombing them into oblivion.
He is given a bomber and a crew to wipe them out...
After a harrowing flight to get near his target, He reassures his crew with his twangy Texan accent:
Now, boys, we got three engines out; we got more holes in us than a horse trader's mule; the radio's gone and we're leakin' fuel, and if we's flying any lower, why, we'd need sleigh bells on this thing. But we got one little budge on them terrorists, they might harpoon us but they dang sure ain't gonna spot us on no radar screen.
Our hero's unforgettable moment is when his bomber plane is approaching closer and closer to its target. The airship approaches its objective with the bombing plane's theme song playing - When Johnny Comes Marching Home...
He is making final bomb run technical checks: bomb fusing circuits, the bomb arming test lights, the primary trigger switch override, the track indicators for maximum deflection, the detonator set at zero altitude, and safety releases. Then he finds that one of the bomb bay doors won't open -"the teleflex drive cable must be sheared away." He leaves his cockpit seat to fix to faulty bomb-release mechanism manually, telling his co-pilot "Stay on the bomb run, Ace. I'm goin' down below and see what I can do." He proceeds through the hatch to the bomb bay, telling the crew, 'Stay on the bomb run, boys. I'm gonna get them doors open if it hare lips everybody on Bear Creek.
He wades through a sparking tangle of wires, and climbs astride his "Hi There!" bomb like a bucking bronco, fanning the flaring sparks with his cowboy's Stetson hat. Sweating profusely, he busily works to fuse two wires together to rewire the door circuitry. "Roger, 3 miles. Target in sight! -- as he attaches an alligator clip to a patch panel above his head, causing the bomb doors to open wide.
When the bomb doors open, he first grabs onto his Stetson to avoid losing it in the sudden draft of air. The Hi There! bomb is dislodged, with our hero riding on it - the huge bomb between his legs. The bombardier asks: "Hey, what about him?" He is flailing the bomb with his hat like a rodeo cowboy atop a bucking bronco, howling wildly toward oblivion: "YAHOO!! YAHOO!!" as it malevolently descends toward its target and detonates in a white, climactic flash on the ground.
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Who is the volunteer?
11 - Dave Nalle
I think it's veteran character actor Slim Pickens.
Dave
12 - El Bicho
who played Maj. T.J. 'King' Kong.
13 - Bill B
David,
I especially like General Myers quote. The Hypublicans roasted Kerry during the campaign as being all soft & cuddly with the terrorists for saying the SAME THING.
Funny, but I guess I missed the conga line of Hypublicans forming to trash General Myers.
What a joke!
14 - David R. Mark
Of course, there was a point during the Newsweek fiasco when folks like Scott McClellan pretended not to notice what Gen. Myers had said, just to continue falsely arguing that an incorrect Newsweek item led to deaths in Afghanistan.
15 - Dave Nalle
David, that's because Scott McClellan is the devil and Bush is Hitler, right?
Dave
16 - KC
Why does any of this surprise anyone? We went to war against a country that was NOT harboring our enemy. We're in a place now where he can recruit at will, and we've taken no real steps to find him. This fear caused by Bin Laden benefits two groups of people---the blind who follow him, and another group who use him as a threat while doing nothing to stop him.
17 - David R. Mark
Dave, facts suck, don't they?
Here's my post on how McClellan ignored Myers