bolo121

Britain Drops 'War on Terror' Label
Daily Mail | December 28, 2007
The words "war on terror" will no longer be used by the British government to describe attacks on the public, the country's chief prosecutor said Dec. 27.


Sir Ken Macdonald said terrorist fanatics were not soldiers fighting a war but simply members of an aimless "death cult."

The Director of Public Prosecutions said: 'We resist the language of warfare, and I think the government has moved on this. It no longer uses this sort of language."

London is not a battlefield, he said.

"The people who were murdered on July 7 were not the victims of war. The men who killed them were not soldiers," Macdonald said. "They were fantasists, narcissists, murderers and criminals and need to be responded to in that way."

His remarks signal a change in emphasis across Whitehall, where the "war on terror" language has officially been ditched.

Officials were concerned it could act as a recruiting tool for Al Qaeda, which is determined to manufacture a battle between Islam and the West.

The term "Islamic terrorist" will also no longer be used. Officials believe it is unhelpful because it appears to directly link the religion to terrorist atrocities.

In an interview with BBC Radio's World at One, Macdonald made a fresh attack on plans to extend beyond 28 days the length of time a terror suspect can be held without trial.

He said that the evidence had shown that the existing limit was working well and he accused ministers of legislating on the basis of 'hypotheticals'.

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So...a really good idea or more PC craziness?

Parihaka

It is a good idea, something Shek and others have been expounding on for some time.
Despite assertions to the contrary and catchy phrases it's not an Islamic problem any more than the response has been a Christian problem, although I would go so far as to associate it with Wahabism.
Death cult is a nice description, I wonder what the Arabic translation of that is.

Cactus

A pointless public-relations exercise. While I agree that "War on Terror" is a badly constructed term, it has become a recognizable term nonetheless: If logic and reason are lacking, it atleast has the virtue of convenience. What is the alternative that the British government is proposing? Nothing! The government will do well to either think through the problem and present a logical and reasoned alternative, or follow precedent and let the sleeping dogs lie. After all, what is the logic or reasoning behind collecting and terming a Norman rebellion, an English proxy-war, a French insurgency and an Anglo-French power struggle lasting 116 years the "Hundred Years War"?

Cactus

Pidgin-Translation from Cactus: "Hizb-ul-Mauth"