End of the war on terror

[kc]

FYI Hillary Benn is going to make a speech today in which he states UK ministers will no longer use the phrase War on Terror.

[flamesong]

Benn to criticise 'war on terror'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6558569.stm

We await the new brand with bated breath.

[The Watcher]

Hillary Benn said:

[xmasdale]

Hmmm!

I suppose it would be too much to expect them to stop using the term Al Qaeda. That term is, I believe, a Western invention to describe disparate Muslim groups opposed to the status quo of US domination.

A few days after he had written that the term in Arabic means the database and was used to describe the CIA database of anti-Soviet terrorists/freedom-fighters in Afghanistan whom the West were supporting, Robin Cook died mysteriously while out walking near the summit of Ben Stack in the Scottish Highlands. As the former Labour Foreign Secretary and Leader of the House who had resigned from the government over Blair's decision to attack Iraq, he was in a strong position to mount a challenge to Blair's leadership. [UN weapons inspector, David Kelly, died mysteriously when out walking on Harrowdown Hill, Oxfordshire]

Another story about the term is that in Arabic it also means toilet seat which suggests that the origin of the term is more likely to be Western than Muslim. Can't you just imagine a bunch of aspiring terrorists/freedom-fighters sitting down and agreeing to call their organisation toilet seat?

Yet another story I have heard about it is that the term never appeared in texts of Muslim origin until a brand of matches started circulating in the Middle East with a message on the box asking anyone who had information about Al Qaeda to ring a particular number.

But in this world of disinformation, who knows what is true.

[Disco_Destroyer]

The US have done the same it is oK to use terms such as the 'long war' there is a whole list I can't remember the others or where I saw the article

[kc]

Noel, the name acutally existed back in the early nineties, but the guy who did "The Power of Nightmares" started the ball rolling that it was created by George Bush after the 9/11 attacks. "facts" soon appeared backing it up.

Only problem is I have several academic texts from the early 90's that use the name! Classic example of something that sounds all groovy and revisionist, but actually turns out to be piffle :(

[EmptyBee]

I've watch Adam Curtis' The Power of Nightmares and I can't find anything about the actual name 'al-Qaeda' being fabricated post 9/11. I do recall it stating that Islamist/Jihadist revolutionary groups did not in fact, constitute a unified network; their only unity being ideological and methodological rather than organisational. What is does state is that there is no evidence that Bin Laden used the term to describe his own non-existent international terror network until after 9/11.

There are however documented international terrorist-sponsoring networks originating in Pakistan and Afghanistan via the ISI, the CIA and Saudi Arabia, MI6 and the Mossad - and this continues to this day with such groups as the MEK (active in Iraq and Iran). Some people argue that Bin Laden was and remains a CIA/ISI asset, dating back to the anti-Soviet mujahadeen in Afghanistan, who were foreign fighters imported from Saudi, Egypt, Jordan etc. This network of foreign fighters was largely dispersed following the Afghan war, only a small nucleus remaining in Afghanistan.

[Bongo]

They now have the new "Ministry Of Juistice"...
So they might rename the 'War on Terror' simply Doublethink!
http://www.orwelltoday.com/doublethink.shtml