Well, shouldn’t it? The “War on Terror” always sounds to me like “The War on Getting Scared.” “War on Terrorism” sounds much more apt, yet that phrase has less than half as many google hits as the former phrase. Why so?
'Cause “War on Terror” sounds more punchy than “War on Terrorism”. Kinda B-movie promotional style.
I’ve seen this posted here and there. One writer said he heard it from a guy at the Vietnam Memorial:
“Having a ‘War On Terrorism’ is as ridiculous as having a ‘War on Flanking Maneuvers’.”
There is no point in fighting terror/terrorism. There is a point to fighting Osama or any given person/group.
The reason it isn’t called “The War against Osama” is that it doesn’t justify invading Iraq.
“We’ve lost the war on terror. Terror always wins, especially at night.” --Dan Handler (Lemony Snicket)
No, no, no…
It’s a war on Tara.
It’s always sounded a little oxymoronic to me, for that exact reason. War is scary and terrifying. It’s like they were trying to say “The fight against hurting.”
I guess the idea is that when we beat them, they won’t scare us anymore. Even the people who named this thing seem to have realized it was a poor choice, but they can’t change it now.
Just think if the Cold War had been named The War on Commune.
What? George Bush used the wrong word? Inconceivable!!!