Don't let the neocons call it a 'War on Terror'

"There's never been a global war on terror. It's a sham, a ruse. The conflict that's broken out between Israel and Hezbollah shows us, again, how important it is to articulate that. It's a real war, and it has both neocons and Islamic extremists praying that it will escalate into the global Clash of Civilizations that they've long lusted after.

"Bush and Congress gave Israel the green light to pummel Lebanon for a while because 'Israel is fighting a brave battle in a dangerous front in the War on Terror.' And what can we, as Americans, really say about that? After all, we accepted the idea (some of us grudgingly) that there was a global 'War on Terror' ourselves -- why shouldn't Lebanon be the next front?

"When the media and our political class accepted the war frame, the hawks got a blank check. Everything that followed -- invasions, illegal surveillance and prisoners held in limbo, are all expected during times of war. Once we went to 'war,' resisting those policies became an uphill fight. War talk justifies powerful states responding to terrorist or insurgent attacks with disproportionate force. That makes the hawks feel macho and will likely create a whole new generation of potentially violent radicals who hate our guts.

"We should have fought the 'War on Terror' narrative from the beginning ..."
AlterNet

[Note, some of us did fight that narrative and that nomenclature from the beginning, and still are.]

Tagged: bush, usa, war+on+terror, terrorism, lebanon, israel