James Frank Solís: A “war” by another name

05 September 2006

A “war” by another name

3:35 PM

Sometimes problems are caused by how certain words are employed. Listening to Democrats talk about the War on Terror like a law enforcement issue (what with their wanting to try terrorist comabatants as if they were criminals) one can see how terminology plays a part.

Part of the problem with our War on Terror is the title itself. If you think about two of our other “Wars on…” you might see the difficulty that some have in conceiving of how to fight the War on Terror. Our two other wars are the “War on Poverty” and the “War on Drugs.”

Think about how those two “wars” are being fought, and have been fought. It isn’t too difficult to see how Democrats, among others, can conceive of the War on Terror as a law enforcement matter, just like the “wars” on drugs and poverty.

That, of course, doesn’t make them correct. Those two other “wars” shouldn’t have been called “wars” in the first place. And the fact that they have been should have no bearing on how the War on Terror is fought anyway.

I doubt that Democrats are alter their own “tactics.” But of course that just raises the question why I wrote this in the first place.

It’s plot exposition: it has to come out sometime.

A “war” by another name

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