Battle Against Terrorism
Barack Obama said that Afghanistan is “the central front in the battle against terrorism”.
Of course, a battle only has one front. The word he was looking for was war. But Obama is a careful politician and speaker. War on Terror is no longer an acceptable term, since it was created and perverted over the last few years.
When Don Rumsfeld was leaving office, he was asked “With what you know now, what might you have done differently in Iraq?” Of everything he and his co-workers messed up, his answer was “I don’t think I would have called it the war on terror.” He explained that calling it a war creates an expectation of victory and an ending.
In 2003, President Bush said “Iraq is now the central front in the War on Terror.” Barack Obama is using the same language of war to describe Afghanistan, except without using the politically dangerous cliché “War on Terror”.
Like the War on Drugs, terrorism is a police and media problem, not a war. Obama could have said:
- Afghanistan should be at the center of anti-terrorism efforts.
- Preventing terrorist training in Afghanistan is our top priority in global security.
- We must focus our anti-terrorism efforts on Afghanistan.
- Afghanistan’s security is key to our own.
- Afghanistan is where it’s at, with regard to terrorism.
If President Bush, as bad a speaker as he is, found the language to push his viewpoint, Obama certainly can and should. And if he wants to present himself as an alternative to the status quo, he should learn from Rumsfeld, who was part of Bush administration and resigned.
“Battle against terrorism” isn’t Change, it’s cheap makeup.
2 comments on Battle Against Terrorism
1. kenny says:
I disagree with you as to which topics are worthy of a comments section. So, I will use this space to respond to your super bowl article about the Patriots championship book:
Awesome!
2. Lenny says:
Abuse, abuse! I’ll leave your post up, but, uh, bah!
Also, people seem to want to leave comments, so I’ll switch to default on.
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