The 'war on terror':: Good cause, wrong concept

War has come to be a central feature of the political reactions, as well as of the strategy and legal concepts, employed by the United States to wage the global struggle against international terrorism. Calling the fight against terrorism a 'war' entails some major drawbacks. First, the use of the word 'war' gives unwarranted status and legitimacy to the adversary. Second, it exaggerates the role of military operations in fighting global terrorism. Third, the United States bent both its internal judicial rules and international law to accommodate the concept of war on terror. Fourth, the connection drawn by the Americans between the war on terrorism and the concept of preventive war has worried the United States' partners and undermined the anti-terrorist coalition. Fifth, the linkage with the war against Iraq has aggravated the problem, while heightening anti-Western and anti-American feeling in the Middle East and the Islamic world. Finally, the 'war on terror' has detracted from the consideration of some urgent political problems that fuel Middle East terrorism.