Friday, May 04, 2007

Ending TWOT

* Mike Allen in Time:
"But increasingly the phrase (TWOT) is being regarded with hostility by many Democrats, who view it as little more than propaganda, and with a degree of skepticism by some Republicans, who consider it tired and vague. The left lobe of the blogosphere roared its approval in March when the House Budget Committee directed its staff to eschew "global war on terror" and instead use more precise language like "the war in Iraq" and "ongoing military operations throughout the world." And last month the British government announced that it too had retired the phrase.

Now Kerry's former running mate is declaring his independence from a phrase that politicians have been brandishing with brio for more than five years.

...Edwards tells TIME that he will no longer use what he views as "a Bush-created political phrase."

"This political language has created a frame that is not accurate and that Bush and his gang have used to justify anything they want to do," Edwards said in a phone interview from Everett, Wash. "It's been used to justify a whole series of things that are not justifiable, ranging from the war in Iraq, to torture, to violation of the civil liberties of Americans, to illegal spying on Americans. Anyone who speaks out against these things is treated as unpatriotic. I also think it suggests that there's a fixed enemy that we can defeat with just a military campaign. I just don't think that's true."
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"What they have proven beyond any doubt is that the exercise of raw power does not make you a leader," Edwards said. He stated he doesn't know why the other top-tier Democrats didn't join him in boycotting GWOT, but added: "My conjecture is that they've used the term so many times themselves that they would be concerned about saying that they reject it now. And they're also concerned about the political implications. I'm going to say the truth, and that's it."

But the truth is that the war on terror is destined to outlast a change in the Oval Office — or in vocabulary."

2 comments:

«—U®Anu§—» said...

I accidentally tuned in the republican presidential debate. I didn't watch the democrats and didn't intend to watch the republicans. I'm not glad I'm seeing this. Except for Ron Paul, they are all wild-eyed, murdering fanatics. A good many of them want preemptive war in many countries, many of which used to be our allies. After seeing a few minutes of this, I have greatly renewed interest in screening political candidates for psychopathy. These Nazi dickfaces are CRAZY.

Anonymous said...

Yes, they are crazy. And let's hope Edwards goes the extra mile and not only calls the "war on terror" propaganda, let's hope he exposes it for what it is, a war for as much control as possible over as much of the world's remaining oil and natural gas resources as possible. And exposes the modern Reichstag fire 9/11 along with it.

But I'm certainly not holding my breath.