Wednesday, July 27, 2005

GWOT --> GJOT?

Has the "Global War On Terror" become the "Global Jihad On Terror"? Today's Washington Post reports:
The Bush administration is retooling its slogan for the fight against Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, pushing the idea that the long-term struggle is as much an ideological battle as a military mission, according to senior administration and military officials. <>
In recent speeches and news conferences, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the country's top military officer have spoken of "a global struggle against violent extremism" rather than "the global war on terror," which had been the catchphrase of choice.
The article suggest this change originates in a view that the "war" wil be longer and include more than just battlefield action. Quite possible. I find it fascinating that "struggle" can be a good translation of jihad also. I wonder how the US is handling the Arabic ranslation of this new phrase.

1 Comments:

Blogger Jim said...

Also, the German translation of "struggle" is "kampf", as in Adolph Hitler's "Mein Kampf".

I blogged about the translations here, and how I don't think the new phrase is going to be very popular in Germany either.

5:38 AM  

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