US to phase out ‘war on terror’ -
07-28-2005, 04:04 PM
[url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050728/asp/foreign/story_5044289.asp:a3d4b]Link to article...[/url:a3d4b]
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Washington, July 27: The “war on terror”, the resonant catchphrase of the Bush administration for the past four years, is to be discreetly phased out in favour of more nuanced language, officials signalled yesterday.
The rebranding is part of what America’s critics will say is a long overdue acknowledgement by the Pentagon of the complexity of the challenge of combating al Qaida.
“As the struggle evolves some of the language will evolve as well,” a senior administration official said.
Officials are instead starting to favour the rather less snappy phrase “struggle against violent extremism” as the administration puts increased stress on longer term initiatives — diplomatic, economic and educational — to defeat terrorism.
The phrase “war on terror” was “very simple, easy, concise”, the official said. “The definition lends itself to images of those in uniform combating extremism and terrorists but the struggle is broader than that.”
President George W Bush sought to rally the nation and the world to America’s side in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks when he declared a “war” against terrorism.
His language was initially hailed as reflecting the extraordinary nature of the threat. But the phrase rapidly fell out of favour with America’s allies as they argued that it over-simplified the challenge by suggesting that force of arms was enough to defeat Osama bin Laden.
In a significant shift reflecting America’s difficulties in Iraq and their failure to catch bin Laden, Pentagon officials have started to make clear that they too believe force is not enough for victory.
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We can't win "the war" so.....uhhh.......let's call it a "struggle" instead. oOo:
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