Obama abandons ‘war on terror’ catchphrase.

The AP notes that only once since taking office on Jan. 20 has President Obama used the phrase “war on terror,” which was always on the lips of President Bush. Obama has instead more broadly referenced the “enduring struggle against terrorism and extremism.” CSIS national security analyst Anthony Cordesman notes that Bush’s phrase “became associated in the minds of many people outside the Unites States and particularly in places where the countries are largely Islamic and Arab, as being anti-Islam and anti-Arab.” Indeed, a Pentagon-funded study last year recommended that the U.S. do away with the terminology as the strategy behind it was “not successful in undermining al Qai’da’s capabilities.”