Reply #15: No! A tactic cannot be an enemy.

[greatauntoftriplets]

THE WAR ON TERROR
A tactic cannot be an enemy

By Don Rose. Political consultant and freelance writer Don Rose has worked for Democrats and Republicans
Published April 25, 2004

Bob Kerrey, a member of the Sept. 11 investigating commission, made a profound comment during his confrontation with National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, telling her the whole concept of a war on terror is incorrect--that terrorism is a tactic, and you can't declare war on a tactic. The media ignored the remark, but Kerrey, a former senator and governor of Nebraska, reiterated it a few days later in an op-ed piece in The New York Times:

"I believe President Bush's overall vision for the war on terrorism is wrong. Terrorism is a tactic, not an enemy. The real enemy is a small group of radical Islamists who have chosen to wage a war on all infidels--military and civilian alike."

A war on terror or terrorism is absurd on the face of it.

It is like declaring war on guerrilla warfare, a related tactic. We are not at war with the tactic--however much we hate it and denounce it--any more than we are at "war" with drive-by shootings. There really is a tangible enemy out there, and it should be clearly identified, but for political reasons, the actual enemy goes unnamed, and the broad, scary word "terrorism" is substituted for propaganda purposes.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/perspective/...