Stardate 20020218.1032

(On Screen via long range sensors): I'm finding myself more and more disenchanted with the word "terrorist". One of the problems with casting this war as being a war "against terrorism" is that there is no consensus as to what a terrorist is.

Another problem is that terrorism is a tactic, not an ideology. Like any tactic of war it can be used for good or for ill; it takes its moral value from the ideology it serves. Like all war it is evil, in a sense; but it may be considered a necessary evil by those who take it up, just as is the case with all war. If a war is bad but all the alternatives are worse, you fight the war. If your best tactic in fighting it is terrorism, you become a terrorist.

The last problem with the word is that our enemies, and less-than-friends, are using that word against us. "Uh-oh; you can't prove that thus-and-so is actually a terrorist even though they are your enemy; so it's against the rules for you to attack them."

I do not condemn terrorism as such. I also do not forgive those who attacked us. I favor a war against them not because they used terrorism, but because they attacked us. If we were attacked using a non-terrorist tactic I would also favor war against them.

This isn't truly a war against terrorism because it is no more possible to stamp out terrorism than it is any other kind of war. This is a war against a specific ideology, Islamic fundamentalism, and against those who ally with it. Those believing in that ideology have decided that there isn't room in this world for both them and us. I accept their judgment, and I intend to make sure that we're the only ones left standing.

I'm completely partisan about this. We're not fighting because we're good and they are evil; we're fighting because they attacked us and there doesn't appear to be any room for peaceful accommodation between them and us. It's as simple as that. I don't see anything wrong with fighting to preserve my nation, my people, and my ideological system. I don't need any reason beyond that.

It doesn't matter who is trying to destroy those things, or why and how they do so; the fact that they are is sufficient. That makes them my enemy.