The Power of a Name
7 September 2006For almost five years the term for the war we are engaged in has been the War on Terror. Many have rightly pointed out that terror is a tactic, not an enemy. You cannot wage a war against a tactic. But the larger point is why such a term was used in the first place. Why define the war as a war on terror?
The simple answer is political correctness. The US has been afraid of offending our enemies. Of course we’ve not been alone in that regard. Most of the western world has also engaged in this PC dance to avoid offending those who wish to destroy us. It goes hand in hand with the constant chatter about Islam being a religion of peace. What nonsense!
Now Bush has gone and used the proper terminology. He said we are at war with Islamic fascism and that is precisely true. Saying so has, as expected, offended our enemies and they are now ranting about it.
Writing for Jewish World Review, Victor Davis Hanson has some relevant points to make about the new designation the Islamists are so offended by. In the Sept. 7 edition Hanson says:
The common denominators are extremist views of the Koran (thus the term Islamic), and the goal of seeing authoritarianism imposed at the state level by force (thus the notion of fascism). The pairing of the two words conveys a precise message: the old fascism is back, but now driven by a radical fundamentalist creed of Islam.
What our enemies object to is the truth. Truth is precisely what they cannot abide. If we, as their enemies, truly understand the threat, we may actually “do what is required,” as Churchill famously said. So long as we are lulled by false terms like the “war on terror” and “Islam is a religion of peace,” we will tend to be more complacent. After all, such descriptions don’t exactly convey a feeling of urgency.
So let’s call it what it is. We are fighting a war against Islamic fascism. We are not fighting terrorism and Islam is not a religion of peace. Accuracy is one of our best weapons.
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