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The Struggle against the Jihad

Wordlab doesn't get into the politics of war, but when the White House gets into "retooling its slogan for the fight against Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups" by changing the Global War on Terror into the Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism it's engaging in a "war of words" we cannot help but help.

We've read the New York Times, the BBC News, and Slate, and even checked the Daily Show Video Archive, and nobody has yet mentioned that "struggle" is the meaning of the word jihad.

Update 08/04/05: President Makes It Clear: Phrase Is 'War on Terror'
It is not clear whether the new language embraced by other administration officials was adopted without Mr. Bush's approval or whether he reversed himself after the change was made. Either way, he planted himself on Wednesday firmly on the side of framing the conflict primarily in military terms and appeared intent on emphasizing that there had been no change in American policy.
Update 09/19/05: Brandweek reports that a Madison Avenue adman advised the Department of Defense on rebranding the War on Terrorism.
Saatchi & Saatchi CEO Kevin Roberts has been telling the Pentagon how to spin the war on terror.

His advice? “Call our struggle, the Fight for a Better World.”

Roberts was invited by the U.S. Department of Defense to address “various U.S. Defense Intelligence Agencies” at a conference in New York held last March 9, according to a copy of Roberts' speech obtained by Brandweek. (A complete copy of the speech can be found HERE.)

His recommendation—derived from his 2004 book, Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands—bears a conceptual similarity to a term top Bush Administration officials used in August to replace the phrase “war on terror.”

That phrase, “the global struggle against violent extremism,” was widely ridiculed when Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and others began using it instead of “the war on terror.” Government officials have since gone back to using the “war on terror” moniker.
Posted by abnu on Thursday, July 28, 2005 @ 12:34 AM [ + ]

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