"Global War On Terrorism" now to be called "War Against Violent Extremism"

[norml]

A Make-Over to Disguise Ugly U.S. Policy

June 13, 2005


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by Ivan Eland

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After defeating al Qaeda, at least in their own minds, top officials of the Bush administration are now contemplating a war against “violent extremism.” (I call it the WAVE.) Apparently, the already grandiose “Global War on Terrorism”—in bureaucratic jargon, the GWOT—just wasn’t extravagant enough for an administration that thinks really big. Although administration officials implicitly acknowledge the spreading conflagration of global Islamic jihad, they are oblivious to their own culpability in causing it.

The real problem is that the administration, in permanent campaign mode even after reelection, has always regarded the GWOT as a political marketing gimmick, both at home and abroad. President Bush kicked off the sales effort a month after 9/11 with a bombastic presidential directive that promised the “elimination of terrorism as a threat to our way of life.”

But alas, all good marketing campaigns eventually get stale and that is evidently what has happened to the GWOT. One senior administration official, quoted in the Washington Post, indirectly admitted that a political make-over was again underway in the nation’s capital: “GWOT is catchy, but there may be a better way to describe it.”

In Washington, changes in surface rhetoric often signal transformation in underlying policy. Instead of concentrating its efforts to capture or kill the leadership of al Qaeda, the terrorist group that actually attacked the United States, the administration came up with the broader GWOT catchphrase so that an invasion of Iraq could fit under its umbrella. Who knows what additional administration monkey business will be perpetrated under the cover of the even wider WAVE. The target of any U.S. military operation wouldn’t even need to kill innocent civilians or have alleged affiliations with those who do, such as Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. If you think the GWOT opened a can of worms, just think of the possibilities under the WAVE.




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http://www.mensnewsdaily.com/archive/c-e/eland/2005/eland061305.htm

[OneBlueSky]

1. you can be sure that the next step will be defining "violent" . . .

as not just physically violent, but morally, intellectually, and/or emotionally violent as well . . . just watch . . .

[andino]

2. "War Against Violent Extremism"????

So we are at war with the GOP? Those are the only violent extremists that I know.

[norml]

3. “Global War on Terrorism” is Old Speak.

"War Against Violent Extremism" is New Speak. It's Double Double Plus Good!

[beyond_the_pale]

4. The Wave is a Jr Hi Book

Coincidentally The Wave (haven't read it my self) is a Jr. High fiction based on a true story where a teacher created a Nazi-like climate in a classroom to demonstrate the power of a cult leader. Predictably the experiment gets out of control and in the end there is the big (also predictable) reveal. Recommended summer reading for teens and on sale now at a Barnes and Noble near you!

[newyawker99]

9. Hi beyond_the_pale!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Davis_X_Machina]

5. War Against Serious Terrorism Everywhere...

....more like.

[Just Me]

6. Ah, they needed something a bit more perpetual for their,...

,...profit-seeking war. :eyes:

[julianer]

7. You've only got part of the sequence

which I think goes something like this:

Early 80's: War on Terror I (this ended in the US being the only country ever convicted at the world court for state terrorism)

Middle 80's: War on Drugs (still unable, despite all the death, destruction, corruption, assassination, addiction etc,etc to stop the flood of mind numbing narcotics getting to the poor of the world)

Early 00's: War on Terror II, Spreading Freedom and Democracy, War against Violent Extremists

And just imagine how lawless and violent the world would be if we hadn't had those wars!

[Triana]

8. 'war against violent extremeism' eh? Does that mean...

...that the religious reich wingnutjobs attacking people at abortion clinics and killing gays are finally going to be dealt with like the violent criminals they are?

I DOUBT IT.

If we truely want to fight a 'war against violent extremeism' we need to start RIGHT HERE on our own soil, in our own back yard. Let's start with the "Family Research Council" shall we?

Puh. What a bunch of pretentious CRAP. 'War on terror' my a**. War on 'violent extremeism' my a**.

If we were REALLY gonna have such 'wars' we'd also have to send every damned Repig in DC (and their religious reich jockstraps) to Gitmo because those bastards have killed so many people and ruined the lives of so many others - and are interfering with the lives of yet so many others (yours and mine, for example).

It'll never happen.