Has anyone noticed that * has shifted the lexicon? "Global struggle against violent extremism" has replaced "war on terror" in Pentagon-speak and White House-speak, but it seems there is a lag reaching its operatives in the House (ref Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) speech today at 11:35AM on the House floor, where she used the "oldspeak" term, "global war on terror"). Don't worry, she'll be counseled and speaking correctly soon, too.
After having waged an entire presidential reelection campaign based on the need to stand strong in the "war on terror," the * administration is now informing us that there isn't really a war on terror after all. The New York Times writes that Secretary Rumsfeld and military officials have spoken of a "global struggle against violent extremism" rather than the "global war on terror" because "if you call it a war, then you think of people in uniform as being the solution."
Out with the oldspeak:
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20041022-115912-5781r.htmBush stresses war on terror
By James G. Lakely and Stephen Dinan
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
President Bush yesterday said the race for the White House comes down to "clear choices" between him and John Kerry on five issues: "your family's security, your budget, your quality of life, your retirement and the bedrock values that are so critical to our families and our future." Despite his new stump speech on tax cuts, education spending, Social Security reform and abortion, Mr. Bush still leaned heavily on a single topic — the war on terror — the issue his campaign thinks the president must emphasize to win re-election.
"The enemies who killed thousands of innocent people are still dangerous and determined to strike us again," Mr. Bush said in Wilkes Barre, Pa. "The outcome of this election will set the direction of
the war against terror, and in this war there is no place for confusion and no substitute for victory."
<snip>
A new Bush campaign ad that began airing yesterday, called "Wolves," criticizes Mr. Kerry for voting to cut defense and intelligence spending. "In an increasingly dangerous world, even after the first attack on America, John Kerry and the liberals in Congress voted to slash America's intelligence operations by $6 billion," the ad's narrator said over video of a wolf lurking in the woods. "Cuts so deep they would have weakened America's defenses," the ad continues. "And weakness attracts those who are waiting to do America harm." The ad was inspired by Ronald Reagan's "Bear in the Woods" ad in 1984, accusing Democrat Walter Mondale of being too liberal to deal with the threat of Soviet communism.
Mr. Bush, speaking to a crowd of about 15,000 in this heavily Democratic northeast corner of Pennsylvania, aggressively painted Mr. Kerry as unable to take the actions necessary to protect Americans from another catastrophic terrorist attack.
"His top foreign policy adviser has questioned whether it's even a war at all, saying that's just a metaphor, like the war on poverty," Mr. Bush said. "I've got news: Anyone who thinks we are fighting a metaphor does not understand the enemy we face and has no idea how to win the war and keep America secure." more......
• James G. Lakely was traveling with Mr. Bush in Pennsylvania. Stephen Dinan was with Mr. Kerry in Wisconsin.
...and in with the newspeak:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/26/politics/26strategy.htmlNew Name for 'War on Terror' Reflects Wider U.S. Campaign
By ERIC SCHMITT and THOM SHANKER
WASHINGTON, July 25 - The Bush administration is retooling its slogan for the fight against Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, pushing the idea that the long-term struggle is as much an ideological battle as a military mission, senior administration and military officials said Monday.
In recent speeches and news conferences, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and the nation's senior military officer have spoken of
"a global struggle against violent extremism" rather than "the global war on terror," which had been the catch phrase of choice. Administration officials say that phrase may have outlived its usefulness, because it focused attention solely, and incorrectly, on the military campaign.
Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the National Press Club on Monday that he had "objected to the use of the term 'war on terrorism' before, because if you call it a war, then you think of people in uniform as being the solution." He said the threat instead should be defined as violent extremists, with the recognition that "terror is the method they use."
Although the military is heavily engaged in the mission now, he said, future efforts require "all instruments of our national power, all instruments of the international communities' national power." The solution is "more diplomatic, more economic, more political than it is military," he concluded. Administration and Pentagon officials say the revamped campaign has grown out of meetings of President Bush's senior national security advisers that began in January, and it reflects the evolution in Mr. Bush's own thinking nearly four years after the Sept. 11 attacks. Mr. Rumsfeld spoke in the new terms on Friday when he addressed an audience in Annapolis, Md., for the retirement ceremony of Adm. Vern Clark as chief of naval operations. Mr. Rumsfeld described America's efforts as it "wages the global struggle against the enemies of freedom, the enemies of civilization."
more.......
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