Possumblog

Aww. He's so cute when he tries to act all big and everything!

Edwards: Move past 'war on terror'

By BETH FOUHY
The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Democrat John Edwards Wednesday repudiated the notion that there is a "global war on terror," calling it an ideological doctrine advanced by the Bush administration that has strained American military resources and emboldened terrorists.

In a defense policy speech he planned to deliver at the Council on Foreign Relations, Edwards called the war on terror a "bumper sticker" slogan Bush had used to justify everything from abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison to the invasion of Iraq.

"We need a post-Bush, post-9/11, post-Iraq military that is mission focused on protecting Americans from 21st century threats, not misused for discredited ideological purposes," Edwards said in remarks prepared for delivery. "By framing this as a war, we have walked right into the trap the terrorists have set — that we are engaged in some kind of clash of civilizations and a war on Islam." [...]

So, at least he isn't so vapid that he won't admit that we do have terrorists, which means there's an organized group of people intent on forcing us to make societal changes through threats and overt actions against innocent civilians, and they just happen to overwhelmingly subscribe to a faith they identify as Islam (although I'm willing to allow it's a perverted version thereof), and their expressed intent is to pave the way for the return of the Caliphate and rid the world of infidels.

His premise, then, seems to be that despite the fact that these terrorists see themselves as being engaged in a titanic struggle of civilizations, and that they see themselves fighting a war against anyone or any institution that is not Islamic (as they define Islam), really, the only thing that empowers them is to set linguistic traps for us to get entangled in. If we'd quit all this talk about how they're intent on blowing things up and wiping America from the face of the Earth, they'd simply cease to exist.

Just go back to sipping thick sweet hot tea and smoking their hookahs, I guess.

Senator, these folks want something, and they're willing to do whatever it takes to fulfill that desire, whether you're comfortable admitting it or not. Ignoring them, or treating them as an unimportant distraction from important things such as good hair grooming is short-sighted. Wishing away a threat doesn't work--it's one of the reasons why we're in the middle of this struggle (whatever you want to call it, and whether or not you believe it's real) right now.

Now then--go outside and play and let the grown-ups talk.

Posted by Terry Oglesby at May 23, 2007 11:57 AM