(go ahead, report that to the White House as well)
Daniel Patrick Boyd is escorted by U.S. Marshals to the federal courthouse in Raleigh, N.C. on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2009. Federal prosecutors say a North Carolina terrorism case may involve classified material that will raise national security issues. Authorities have charged seven North Carolina men with plotting terrorism abroad. An indictment pegs the ringleader as 39-year-old Daniel Patrick Boyd, who was arrested last week along with two sons. (AP Photo/The News & Observer, Chuck Liddy) TV OUT; NO SALES; MANDATORY CREDIT
FILE --These undated file photos provided by the City County Bureau of Identification in Wake County, N.C., show from left: Daniel Patrick Boyd, Hysen Sherifi, Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan and Ziyad Yaghi. Authorities claim the group, including 3others and an eighth suspect believed to be in Pakistan, were gearing up for a "violent jihad," though prosecutors haven't detailed any specific targets or timeframe. If convicted, the men could face life in prison. (AP Photo/City County Bureau of Identification/file)
Washington Times:
White House: 'War on terrorism' is over
'Jihadists' and 'global war' no longer acceptable terms
By Jon Ward and Eli Lake WASHINGTON TIMES
Originally published 12:34 p.m., August 6, 2009
It's official. The U.S. is no longer engaged in a "war on terrorism." Neither is it fighting "jihadists" or in a "global war."
President Obama's top homeland security and counterterrorism official took all three terms off the table of acceptable words inside the White House during a speech Thursday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.
"The President does not describe this as a 'war on terrorism,'" said John Brennan, head of the White House homeland security office, who outlined a "new way of seeing" the fight against terrorism.
The only terminology that Mr. Brennan said the administration is using is that the U.S. is "at war with al Qaeda." (hoo boy are we fucked)
"We are at war with al Qaeda," he said. "We are at war with its violent extremist allies who seek to carry on al Qaeda's murderous agenda."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in March that the administration was not using the term "war on terror" but no specific directive had come from the White House itself. Mr. Obama himself used the term "war on terror" on Jan. 23, his fourth day as president, but has not used it since.
Mr. Brennan's speech was aimed at outlining ways in which the Obama administration intends to undermine the "upstream" factors that create an environment in which terrorists are bred.
The president's adviser talked about increasing aid to foreign governments for building up their militaries and social and democratic institutions, but provided few details about how the White House will do that.
He was specific about ways in which Mr. Obama believes words influence the way America prosecutes the fight against terrorism.
Mr. Brennan said that to say the U.S. is fighting "jihadists" is wrongheaded (am I REALLY reading this???) because it is using "a legitimate term, 'jihad,' meaning to purify oneself or to wage a holy struggle for a moral goal" which "risks giving these murderers the religious legitimacy they desperately seek but in no way deserve."
"Worse, it risks reinforcing the idea that the United States is somehow at war with Islam itself," (BECAUSE WE ARE GODDAMMIT!!!) Mr. Brennan said.
As for the "war on terrorism," Mr. Brennan said the administration is not going to say that "because 'terrorism' is but a tactic — a means to an end, which in al Qaedas case is global domination by an Islamic caliphate."
"You can never fully defeat a tactic like terrorism any more than you can defeat the tactic of war itself," Mr. Brennan said.
He also said that to call the fight against al Qaeda and other terrorist groups — which he said remains "a dynamic and evolving threat" — should not be called "a global war."
While Mr. Brennan acknowledged that al Qaeda and its affiliates are active in countries throughout the Middle East and Africa, he also said that "portraying this as a 'global' war risks reinforcing the very image that al Qaeda seeks to project of itself — that it is a highly organized, global entity capable of replacing sovereign nations with a global caliphate."
The president's adviser said that in discussing counter terror operations, Mr. Obama "has encouraged us to be even more aggressive, even more proactive, and even more innovative" than they have been proposing.
But Mr. Brennan lamented "inflammatory rhetoric, hyperbole, and intellectual narrowness" surrounding the national security debate and said Mr. Obama has views that are "nuanced, not simplistic; practical, not ideological."
- Beheading In America
The fruits of Pakistan's trees have landed in North Carolina. Hearing today for Triangle woman accused in beheading plot RALEIGH -- A woman accused of working with a Triangle man convicted of conspiring to commit terror to arrange murder of three...
- Wh Spokesmen Still Mum On Study Linking Shariah Proponents To Al Qaeda
From Weasel Zippers: (Washington Times) According to the report, proponents of Shariah are “Muslim supremacists” waging “civilization jihad” along with the Islamist terrorists engaged in violent jihad, like al Qaeda. The 19-member study group...
- Ignoring Al Qaeda’s Ideology Is A Threat To Us National Security
Walid Phares at Counterterrorism blog Ignoring al Qaeda’s ideology is a threat to US national security By Walid Phares In preparation for the publicizing for the new National Security Strategy by the Obama Administration, Mr John Brennan, White House...
- Our Counterror Head Brennan:jihad Is 'legitimate Tenet Of Islam'
Nothing could more perfectly describe the visceral and 'every hair on the body standing on end' reaction of so many in the USA to Mr. Obama than these people around him who reflect his dangerous, naive, social idiocy combined with...
- Insane: Brennan Says That Jihado-terrorists Are Victims Who Are Not Motivated By Religion
From the Astute Bloggers: This is absolutely outrageous, the fact that someone this deranged, who defends jihadis as “victims,” is defending us from al-Qaeda sends shivers up my spine… The president’s top counterterrorism adviser on Wednesday...