Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
April 17, 2007
By Jane Perlez
LONDON, April 16 — A senior politician in the Labor Party of Prime Minister Tony Blair said Monday that the Bush administration’s commonly used phrase “war on terror” strengthens extremists.
“In the U.K. we do not use the phrase ‘war on terror’ because we can’t win by military means alone and because this isn’t one organized enemy with a clear identity and a coherent set of objectives,” the politician, Hilary Benn, said at Center on International Cooperation of New York University. The speech was released in London by Mr. Benn’s parliamentary office.
Mr. Benn, who is the international development secretary in the Blair government, said it would be more beneficial for the United States to use the “soft power” of values and ideas as well as military prowess to defeat extremists.
The remarks by Mr. Benn, an aspiring deputy leader of the Labor Party who is sometimes mentioned as a possible foreign secretary once Mr. Blair leaves office, were seen here as a way to create distance from Mr. Blair’s unpopular support for President Bush.
“The support of Bush has cost Blair his legacy,” said Khalid Mahmood, one of four Muslim members of Parliament in Britain. “Hilary Benn is in the contest for the deputy leadership and this is a way to make clear water between himself and Blair.”
Mr. Mahmood added that Mr. Benn was playing with semantics, and that no matter what language the government used, the problem of extremism would persist as long as the war in Iraq continued.
Generally, the British government has used more reserved language to describe the threat from Islamic extremists at home and abroad. This is, in part, because the Blair government has been concerned about alienating the Pakistani-British population in Britain which has opposed Mr. Blair’s Iraq war policies.
Official British government policy is to talk about “law enforcement” rather than the “war on terror,” Prof. Frank Gregory of the University of Southampton, and an expert in British security policies, said in a recent speech. He said the government had a policy of speaking in public about a “contest” with extremists and using what have been known as the “four p’s” — prevent, pursue, protect and prepare — to deal with them.
In his speech, Mr. Benn said extremists wanted to “force their individual and narrow values on others, without dialogue, without debate, through violence.”
“And by letting them feel part of something bigger,” he added, “we give them strength.”
Mr. Benn has also been a critic of the World Bank president, Paul D. Wolfowitz. Mr. Wolfowitz is struggling to keep his job after the disclosure that he played a role in granting a pay raise and promotion to a companion.
April 17, 2007
By Jane Perlez
LONDON, April 16 — A senior politician in the Labor Party of Prime Minister Tony Blair said Monday that the Bush administration’s commonly used phrase “war on terror” strengthens extremists.
“In the U.K. we do not use the phrase ‘war on terror’ because we can’t win by military means alone and because this isn’t one organized enemy with a clear identity and a coherent set of objectives,” the politician, Hilary Benn, said at Center on International Cooperation of New York University. The speech was released in London by Mr. Benn’s parliamentary office.
Mr. Benn, who is the international development secretary in the Blair government, said it would be more beneficial for the United States to use the “soft power” of values and ideas as well as military prowess to defeat extremists.
The remarks by Mr. Benn, an aspiring deputy leader of the Labor Party who is sometimes mentioned as a possible foreign secretary once Mr. Blair leaves office, were seen here as a way to create distance from Mr. Blair’s unpopular support for President Bush.
“The support of Bush has cost Blair his legacy,” said Khalid Mahmood, one of four Muslim members of Parliament in Britain. “Hilary Benn is in the contest for the deputy leadership and this is a way to make clear water between himself and Blair.”
Mr. Mahmood added that Mr. Benn was playing with semantics, and that no matter what language the government used, the problem of extremism would persist as long as the war in Iraq continued.
Generally, the British government has used more reserved language to describe the threat from Islamic extremists at home and abroad. This is, in part, because the Blair government has been concerned about alienating the Pakistani-British population in Britain which has opposed Mr. Blair’s Iraq war policies.
Official British government policy is to talk about “law enforcement” rather than the “war on terror,” Prof. Frank Gregory of the University of Southampton, and an expert in British security policies, said in a recent speech. He said the government had a policy of speaking in public about a “contest” with extremists and using what have been known as the “four p’s” — prevent, pursue, protect and prepare — to deal with them.
In his speech, Mr. Benn said extremists wanted to “force their individual and narrow values on others, without dialogue, without debate, through violence.”
“And by letting them feel part of something bigger,” he added, “we give them strength.”
Mr. Benn has also been a critic of the World Bank president, Paul D. Wolfowitz. Mr. Wolfowitz is struggling to keep his job after the disclosure that he played a role in granting a pay raise and promotion to a companion.