- WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration
is abandoning the phrase "war on terror" to better express the
fight against al-Qaeda and other groups as an ideological struggle as much
as a military mission.
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- While the slogan - first used by President George W Bush
in the wake of the 9/11 attacks - may still be heard from time to time,
the White House says it will increasingly be couched in other language.
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- In recent days, senior administration figures have been
speaking publicly of "a global struggle against the enemies of freedom",
and of the need to use all "tools of statecraft" to defeat them.
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- The shift in terms comes at a time when the US public
is increasingly pessimistic about the war in Iraq - and sceptical about
its links to the fight against terrorism.
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- One White House official told the BBC the move did not
mark a change of approach, but was intended to give a broader perspective
to the "evolving nature" of the struggle.
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- 'Economic influence'
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- Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld spoke in the new language
on Friday, praising a retiring Navy officer who had served as "our
country wages the global struggle against the enemies of freedom, the enemies
of civilization".
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- The next day, national security advisor Steven Hadley
co-wrote a piece for the New York Times in which he set out the current
thinking.
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- "Military action is only one piece of the war on
terrorism," Mr Hadley wrote.
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- "At the same time, however, we must bring all of
the tools of statecraft, economic influence and private enterprise to bear
in this war.
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- "Freedom-loving people around the world must reach
out through every means - communications, trade, education - to support
the courageous Muslims who are speaking the truth about their proud religion
and history, and seizing it back from those who would hijack it for evil
ends."
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- The country's top military officer spoke in a similar
vein on Monday.
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- General Richard Myers told a meeting at the National
Press Club: "The long-term problem is as much diplomatic, as much
economic, in fact more diplomatic, more economic, more political than it
is military.
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- "And that's where the focus has to be in the future."
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- Tough talking
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- Earlier this month, former British Foreign Secretary
Robin Cook criticised the language employed by the US president, saying
that instead of isolating terrorists, he had upset Muslims around the world.
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- Mr Cook - an opponent of the war in Iraq - told the BBC:
"I think the problem with George Bush's approach is that he does keep
talking about it as a war on terror as if there is a military solution
and there isn't."
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- But while the president has continued to talk of "taking
the fight to the enemy", his recent speeches have also emphasized
freedom, democracy and the worldwide clash of ideas.
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- A White House official said: "We are constantly
reviewing how we can best protect our citizens from terrorism and we need
to adjust our approach to achieve this.
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- "The 'war' is more than a military response, it
is a battle of ideas and a struggle against extremism, and all aspects
of the US Government and its allies around the world need to be called
upon in fighting it.
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- "In Afghanistan, the extremist Taleban regime no
longer has a base of operations, a clearly identified location that requires
a war - there is now a democratically-elected government there.
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- "It's a different situation again in London where
you've got, say, a second generation British Muslim influenced by the preachings
of a radical cleric."
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- Slow evolution
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- Meanwhile, Lieutenant General James T Conway, a senior
US military commander, told a Pentagon briefing there had been "philosophical
discussions" with US allies over the use of the phrase.
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- "We've been told, actually, that "global war
on terrorism" translates pretty well into the various languages,"
he added.
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- "So I think that continues to make it a part of
the discussion."
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- A Pentagon spokesman said the title of a new manual for
combatant commanders suggested a slow evolution in the recasting of the
mission away from its military aspect.
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- The National Military Strategic Plan for the War on Terrorism,
issued in March, directs commanders to focus on eight areas essential to
terrorists.
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- These include areas like funding and ideological support,
safe havens, communications and movement.
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- The phrase "war on terrorism" was first widely
used by the Western press to refer to the efforts by Britain to end a spate
of attacks in the British mandate of Palestine in the late 1940s.
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- Later, it was frequently employed by US President Ronald
Reagan in the 1990s.
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- But since the 9/11 attacks it has become a slogan for
the protracted, US-led struggle to terrorists and the states that aid them,
usually expressed as "the global war on terror".
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- © BBC MMV
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- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4719169.stm
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