Sidney Blumenthal (Salon): Selling the War

[Jack Rabbit]

From Salon.com (Subscription or Day Pass Required)
Dated Thursday July 28

Selling the war
When your mission is failing, is it enough simply to rename it? Not if you care about credibility.
By Sidney Blumenthal

Never before has a president suddenly discarded his self-proclaimed "mission." But after declaring himself the commander in chief in the "global war on terror," President Bush has tossed the catchphrase aside in an elusive search for a new one. The "global war on terror" was his slogan to link the war in Afghanistan to the invasion of Iraq, the battle supposedly being one and the same. The quest for a new slogan is more than a public relations gesture. It reflects not only the failure but also the vacuum of his strategy.

Since Bush's speech at Fort Bragg, N.C., on June 28, for which the White House asked for and received national television coverage, and in which Bush reaffirmed "fighting the global war on terrorism," mentioned "terror" or "terrorism" 23 more times, and compared this "global war on terrorism" with the Civil War and World War II, his administration has simply dropped the words that more than any others Bush has identified as the reason for his presidency.

Throughout July, administration officials have substituted new words for the old. Instead of trumpeting the "global war on terrorism," Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have sounded the call to "a global struggle against violent extremism." Medals have been awarded to brave U.S. soldiers stamped "Global War on Terror." Will new medals now be minted?

Read more.

Somehow, terror is a little catchier than violent extremism. This is not a good day in the sales department.

[displacedtexan]

1. Does this mean that "I'm a war president" now becomes...

"I'm a struggle president?"

What a crock! This is nothing more than advanced PR work to cushion the blow to "swarthy-looking folks" haters when BushCo brings the troops home just in time for the 2006 elections.