Forbes Magazine recently described being Liberal as, in part, having “a certain queasiness about the war on terror”. This coalesced a train of thought that has been circling around in my head for about seven and a half years.
I hate the “War on Terror”.
As the Forbes article demonstrates, it is obvious that many of my fellow citizens – particularly those on the right – equate hating the War on Terror with “sympathizing with terrorists”. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, supporting the War on Terror is in many ways aligning yourself with the goals of the particular terrorists that the War on Terror is supposed to be opposing.
First, “War on Terror” is perhaps the worst three-word phrase in modern English. Before I go any further, humor me as I take this abortive piece of text apart.
WAR
“War is “an interaction in which two or more militaries have a struggle of wills” according to Carl von Clausewitz. This struggle is not an