by Norman Solomon

'The War on Terror'--in Translation

When the Bush administration fires off a new round of speechifying about "the war on terror," the US press rarely goes beyond the surface meanings of rhetoric provided by White House scriptwriters. But the president's big speech at the National Endowment for Democracy in October could have been annotated along these lines:

Bush: "We will not tire or rest until the war on terror is won."

Translation: This is a war that can go on forever.

"And while the killers choose their victims indiscriminately, their attacks serve a clear and focused ideology, a set of beliefs and goals that are evil but not insane."

As president, I am the world's authority on evilness and insanity.

"These extremists want to end American and Western influence in the broader Middle East, because we stand for democracy and peace and stand in the way of their ambitions."

Those who stand in the way of our ambitions are extremists.

"They hit us and expect us to run. They want us to repeat the sad history of Beirut in 1983 and Mogadishu in 1993, only this time on a larger scale with greater consequences."

Clinton and even Reagan were wimps compared to me.

"The terrorists regard Iraq as the central front in their war against humanity, and we must recognize Iraq as the central front in our war on terror."

When enemies of the United States kill in Iraq, that's evil. When the United States kills in Iraq, that's good.

"Evil men obsessed with ambition and unburdened by conscience must be taken very seriously, and we must stop them before their crimes can multiply."

We are valiantly obsessed with ambition and legitimately unburdened by conscience, while our crimes multiply.

"The radicals exploit local conflicts to build a culture of victimization in which someone else is always to blame and violence is always the solution."

The United States is never to blame, and the solution involves violence from the U.S. government and its allies.

"Over the years, these extremists have used a litany of excuses for violence: Israeli presence on the West Bank or the U.S. military presence in Saudi Arabia or the defeat of the Taliban or the crusades of a thousand years ago."

The extremists make excuses for violence. We don't need any excuse.

"In fact, we're not facing a set of grievances that can be soothed and addressed."

The people who kill without U.S. approval are irrational. The only way to stop them is to kill them.

"No act of ours invited the rage of the killers, and no concession, bribe or act of appeasement would change or limit their plans for murder. On the contrary, they target nations whose behavior they believe they can change through violence."

No one has any valid reason to be angry at us. And we have the prerogative to change behavior through violence.

"It is true that the seeds of freedom have only recently been planted in Iraq but democracy, when it grows, is not a fragile flower. It is a healthy, sturdy tree."

We have speech writers who like to use metaphors, unencumbered by reality-based constraints.

"In Iraq, there is no peace without victory. We will keep our nerve and we will win that victory."

To hell with peace. We want to claim victory, no matter how many people die.

"As we do our part to confront radicalism, we know that the most vital work will be done within the Islamic world itself."

Here's where I get to preach at Muslims about the sanctity of life.

Norman Solomon is the author of the new book War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death. For information, go to: www.WarMadeEasy.com.