War on Terror
From Ballotpedia
The term War on Terror refers to the war declared by the United States following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the U.S.
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Usage
U.S. presidents
- President George W. Bush first used war on terror on September 20, 2001, in a formal address to Congress.[1]
- The U.S. Department of Defense used the term global war on terror to refer to operations until 2009, when it sent a memo to Pentagon staffers stating, "this administration [the Obama presidential administration] prefers to avoid using the term 'Long War' or 'Global War on Terror' [GWOT.] Please use 'Overseas Contingency Operation.'"[2]
- President Donald Trump used war on terrorism in the National Strategy for Counterrorism report published in 2018: "Since September 11, 2001, we have learned that winning the war on terrorism requires our country to aggressively pursue terrorists."[3]
Analysts
- Political theorist Richard Johnson argued that "the 'war on terrorism,' therefore, is simultaneously a set of actual practices—wars, covert operations, agencies, and institutions—and an accompanying series of assumptions, beliefs, justifications, and narratives—it is an entire language or discourse."[4]
- Former Pentagon adviser Richard Perle said using the term war on terror sends mixed signals: "It's certainly true the president [George W. Bush] has not succeeded in inspiring the belief that we face an existential threat...The problem with the term 'war on terrorism' is it leaves the enemy ill defined."[5]
Footnotes
- ↑ The White House, "Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People," September 20, 2001
- ↑ The Washington Post, "'Global War On Terror' Is Given New Name," March 25, 2009
- ↑ The White House, "National Strategy for Counterrorism of the United States of America," accessed September 13, 2019
- ↑ The London School of Economics and Political Science, "The end of the media’s “war on terror”? An analysis of a declining frame," (pg. 10) accessed September 11, 2019
- ↑ NPR, "Defining the War on Terror," November 1, 2006
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