U.S. no longer at war with ‘terrorism’

It’s official. The United States is no longer engaged in a “war on terrorism.” Neither is it fighting “jihadists” nor locked in a “global war.”

This is just stupid.

President Obama’s top homeland security and counterterrorism official on Thursday declared as unacceptable the terms crafted by the George W. Bush administration.

It must be, by definition, that anything the the previous administration said, was incorrect.

It is now solely a “war with al Qaeda” and its violent extremist allies, said John Brennan, head of the White House homeland security office, during a speech Thursday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

There is a lot more going on than just a “war with al Qaeda”. Not to recognize this is to be willfully blind to the nature of the threat…there is a reason it’s called “assymetrical warfare”. There is often a lack of ANY organizational links or coordination. All that is necessary is the germination of one fixed idea in the mind of a potential fanatic, and you have instant jihad…with or without al Qaeda, and with the immediate potential for fully independent and uncoordinated (but no less potentially bloody) action.

The semantic shift is intended to bring precision to the way the president and his aides talk about the nation’s efforts to defeat al Qaeda, though Bush administration officials say the policies that are being put to use have not changed dramatically.

The semantic shift is a willful policy shift in the opposite direction of accurate situational awareness on the part of the administration. Why they would do this, and thereby ignore their Constitutional responsibilities to provide for the common defense? One can only imagine.

In general terms a cautionary note, based on the expression “Never bring a knife to a gunfight.”…

“…never go to a gunfight without a gun and, if you intend to win, never go to a religious war without religion. You’ll lose.”
(The Tuloriad – Afterword; John Ringo & Tom Kratman; Baen Books; ©2009)

UPDATE: Poll results (not final at time of posting)
The Obama administration said the U.S. is no longer engaged in a “war on terrorism” or fighting “jihadists.” Instead, the U.S. is in a “war with al Qaeda.” Do you agree?

Response Percent Votes
Yes            8%         250 votes
No             89%       2726 votes
Undecided   1%       53 votes
Other            1%       31 votes
3060 total votes