‘War on terror’ a mistake says Miliband
FOREIGN SECRETARY David Miliband surprised political commentators last week by declaring the ‘war on terror’ a mistake during a speech in Mumbai.
He made the comments at the end of his trip to the state capital where he sought to ease tensions between India and neighbouring Pakistan.
He described use of the phrase ‘war on terror’ as a mistake, saying, “The more we lump terrorist groups together and draw the battle lines as a simple binary struggle, the more we play into the hands of those seeking to unify groups with little in common” It seems the Labour minister sees a fight against terrorism as more complex than simply a struggle against a single, united, ‘terrorist’ front. “It is not Al Qaeda that has made India a substantial terrorist target practically every month for the last twelve” he argues on his personal blog.
He stated that declaring a war on ‘terror’ “implied a belief that the correct response to the terrorist threat was primarily a military one – to track down and kill a hardcore of extremists”, a sentiment that the Foreign Secretary doesn’t agree with. Instead, he argues, the way to counter terrorism is to “by championing the rule of law, not subordinating” This attitude can be seen in his latest move supporting President Obama’s intention to close Guantanamo.
Indeed, the Obama camp won’t officially talk about a ‘war on terror’ at all, and will probably adopt a less military-focussed rhetoric in general to show the world that America’s war-mongering days are over. The British government informally dropped the use of the term in late 2006.
The timing of the speech is key. Delivering this speech so close to the end of Bush’s presidency is seen by some as a move to distance Britain from the foreign policy that the administration has pursued. British officials, however, maintain that the timing of the speech was decided by the mission in Mumbai, and were not intended to politically position the UK. They did, however, concede that power changing hands in Washington had allowed the Foreign Secretary to be ‘less cautious’ with his language. The ‘war on terror’ so far has been directed by America. Only time will tell exactly what kind of war President Obama intends to fight.
Loading ...