2007-09 What's in a name

2007-09 Mark Steyn The New Criterion \World War IV: The Long Struggle Against Islamofascism\war on terror\Islamofascism\US-Iraq War http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/What-s-in-a-name--3602 What's in a name? What's in a name  This article was published in The New Criterion, Volume 26, September 2007, page 59; complete contents are available at the link. "You don’t roll out a new product in August," said President Bush's aide, Andrew Card, apropos Iraq in the summer of 2002. But in this seventh September of a no longer new war a somewhat battered product is in need of a rebranding.

It was launched in the days after 9/11 as a "war on terror," an artful evasion deemed necessary on the grounds that a war on any enemy beginning with "Islamist," "Islamo-," or "Islamic" might give the impression we had some, ah, issues with Islam itself and only complicate things further with various "friends" like Mubarak and the Saudis. Then, a couple of years back, the Administration rechristened (oops) the whole messy business "the Long War." And Newt Gingrich started describing it as World War III, on the grounds that it's a war on a global scale, and that’s how we designate such conflicts, and as the last one so designated was Number Two, this must be Three.

Norman Podhoretz, in a famous essay, argued that it is, in fact, World War IV, Number Three being the Cold War. The author has now expanded his thesis into a short and characteristically trenchant book in which he argues vigorously in support of the "Bush Doctrine" – more vigorously, indeed, than most of the Administration or even the President would be prepared to argue these days. Unlike Newt, Mr. Podhoretz is not one of nature's salesmen, but he recognizes that this product needs to be pitched. The Naming of Wars is not some semantic diversion for bored viziers on rainy afternoons, but a critical element in framing your strategic goals and—in a plump and prosperous democracy – bringing the citizenry along with you. As students of Harry Potter’s sworn enemy – He Who Must Not Be Named – well know, the inability even to identify the foe speaks at the very minimum to a kind of psychological faintheartedness. Commentary:
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&ldquo;Norman Podhoretz, in a famous essay, argued that [the war on terror] is, in fact, World War IV, Number Three being the Cold War. The author has now expanded his thesis into a short and characteristically trenchant book in which he argues vigorously in support of the "Bush Doctrine"...&rdquo;   