By Douglas J. Hagmann
Monday, December 11, 2006
It took only ten days after 9/11 for the executive director of the american Muslim Council, aly abuzaakouk, to explain how the term "Infinite Justice," the Pentagon's initial name for a U.S. military response to the attacks against america, would be "offensive to some in the Muslim community." To avoid the purported insult to Islam's Mohammed, we verbally retreated, and renamed the military response "Operation Enduring Freedom.” In yesterday's edition of The Guardian, Great Britain's Foreign Office have told Cabinet ministers to drop the phrase "war on terror” and other terms seen as "liable to anger British Muslims and increase tensions more broadly in the Islamic world.” according to The Guardian, "Experts have welcomed the move away from one of the phrases that has most defined the debate on Islamic extremism, but called it 'belated'.”
"'It's about time,' said Garry Hindle, terrorism expert at the Royal United Services Institute in London. "'Military terminology is completely counter-productive, merely contributing to isolating communities. This is a very positive move.'”
For once, let's drop the journalistic decorum and talk in realistic terms, shall we? First, Garry Hindle, I think you are a weenie, and I fear for Great Britain if you are considered a terror expert. Your country, like ours, is at war. Innocent men, women and children are being killed and you are concerned that the use of military terminology will serve to isolate the murderers? You and everyone who agrees with your psychobabble approach to those who chant death threats and kills others in the name of allah need to "grow a set,” not take another sensitivity class to lessen the chances that you might offend someone who wants you dead. alternatively, get the hell out of the way and let experts handle this war.
The first phase of "the weenie factor” in our fight against Islamofacists began only seconds after the first plane struck the first tower on 9/11, when newscasters immediately cautioned against pointing fingers at Islamic terrorists as the perpetrators of this 21st century atrocity for fear of insulting the religion of our enemies. The second phase of the "weenie factor” was perpetuated by some within our own administration, who were temporarily bedridden by the paralysis of analysis caused by a generation of clueless Laodicean diplomats. From there, the "weenie factor” has grown to foot long proportions (pun intended), and now the terrorists are dictating to us the rules of engagement in this war against Islamofacists. The problem with the war being waged against Islamofacist terrorists is that it is being run by a bunch of "wussies” who are more worried about being politically correct than actually stamping out the cancerous disease that has aggressively metastasized since and despite 9/11.
Said Hindle about avoiding the "war on terror” phrase in the same interview: "One of the problems will be getting all parts of government to abide [by the new guidelines]…Whether the Home Office will want to follow remains to be seen. and politicians all have their own agendas.'”
Well, Mr. Hindle, our agenda is to win, and that's where our efforts and concentrations lie, not thumbing through a thesaurus searching for words that avoid making our enemies feel uncomfortable. While you are busy trying to find acceptable terminology to dialogue with an enemy who achieves a sense of perverse enjoyment by cutting the heads off of innocent civilians in front of a video camera, we'll focus our efforts on eliminating them. In the meantime, go find your "happy place” and get out of the way.
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