“War on Terror”

Zbigniew Brzezinski attacks the phrase. Increasingly, I’m inclined to agree that it’s a problem. Peter Beinart, for example, has a very good column in the current Time that winds up striking a false note at one point. “While Nixon promised to end the war in Vietnam, McGovern promised to end the cold war itself,” he writes, “He called for cutting the defense budget 37% and withdrawing troops not only from South Vietnam but also from South Korea.” This is an important point, and Beinart is correct to note the contrast with contemporary political debates, but he winds up expressing it like this: “While many conservatives see anti-Iraq Democrats as McGovern’s spawn, they’re a very different breed. Pelosi and Reid aren’t against the war on terrorism.”

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