Someone in the media finally pointed out that a "War on Terror" is about as sensible as a "War on Strategic Bombing." Zev Chafets on New York's Daily News, a shill for the Israeli right, has hit the nail on the head. Terror is merely a military strategy employed by a side that has such pitiful resources that surprise and viciousness are required as force multipliers. You can't make war on it.
President Bush, of course, can't call his war by its real name -- a crusade against Islamic reactionaries. But consider, if this is truly a war against terrorism, why isn't the US Air Force attacking those who murdered innocent civilians in Northern Ireland this summer? Why aren't elements of the 10th Mountain Division in the Basque Country?
During the Cold War, we pretended that it was the Free World against the Not-Free World. We had on our side such bastions of liberty as Apartheid South Africa, and Pinochet's fascist Chile. Of course, during WWII we had Stalin in the camp of freedom-loving nations. Note, not freedom-enjoying, just loving.
Naturally, everbody knows that this war is a fight to the death against individuals who believe that life is meant to be something far different from what we in the West believe it to be. By calling it a fight against a military theory is to shame the memory of those who have died.
The Islamic reactionaries fight with hijackings and car bombings because they have nothing else. But this conflict is not about that -- it's about the way people live.