AP: 'Jihadist' booted from government lexicon
Don't think I've seen this on here... if so, sorry for the repost as it is a bit old. A co-worker just passed this on earlier in the week.
'Jihadist' booted from government lexicon
By MATTHEW LEE – Apr 24, 2008
WASHINGTON (AP) — Don't call them jihadists any more.
And don't call al-Qaida a movement.
The Bush administration has launched a new front in the war on terrorism, this time targeting language.
Federal agencies, including the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the National Counter Terrorism Center, are telling their people not to describe Islamic extremists as "jihadists" or "mujahedeen," according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. Lingo like "Islamo-fascism" is out, too.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i...DCXrwD908CUGO0
I'm unsure whether we have a lot to learn or
whether we just too easily forget every thing we learned in Kindergarten about dealing with other people...
Right after my son deployed to OIF 2, he called on the Satphone and referred to "Hajis." I asked if he knew the meaning of the word and pointed out he was insulting about a billion people. Told him he ought to forbid his Platoon using the term, period and try to get the rest of the Bn to quit. He did that, with some success -- but that was one Bn out of 12 or more...
Just plain old common sense -- we have a bad tendency to not engage our brains before we talk. We have really created as many problems as we've solved. We're getting smarter but it really didn't have to be this hard.
Two questions, two answers...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
MikeF
...Is it possible for any bureacracy (US included) to adopt Mortenesen's creed?
I'd say very difficult and probably somewhat less effectively but the bureaucracy can do it.
Quote:
Specifically, can battalion's adopt his approach in Iraq and Afghanistan???
Some have, more are to the extent they are able. I suggest a better question is; should they?
They as opposed to OGA or NGOs who are far better suited for the role...
Edited to add; More questions, more answers.
Quote:
...How/Can you move to stability without the thorough cooperation of the host-nation and the indigenous people and tribal structures (ie Iraq and the surge).
Not being facile, serious answer -- you can't. Not reliably, anyway. All you can do is give it your best shot.
Quote:
...From my perspective, that's not our fight. When they're done fighting, I'll come in and build schools.
Once again, a serious answer. I understand and agree with you but IMO that's not our call. Bad jobs go with the territory. Many do not like that and I understand that. Some accept it for various reasons while others elect to not do so. Choice each of has had to make...
By OGA, I meant, literally Other Government
Agencies, plural, as in State, Ag, etc. -- not that OGA :D
Realize that's hard to do but we're trying, finally, and hopefully we can make it work -- finally did in Viet Nam and in about the same amount of time; thus I'd hope this time we institutionalize in case of future need.
Agree with the rest of your post, particularly this:
Quote:
I can guarentee that the military would be all to happy to get the hell out of the rebuilding effort and would happy to let someone else do it.
True dat...
Sticks, Stones, and Slang
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Ken White
Right after my son deployed to OIF 2, he called on the Satphone and referred to "Hajis." I asked if he knew the meaning of the word and pointed out he was insulting about a billion people. Told him he ought to forbid his Platoon using the term, period and try to get the rest of the Bn to quit. He did that, with some success -- but that was one Bn out of 12 or more...
At a different place in a different time, I once encountered a U.S. infantry battalion commander who had banned the Arabic word for "friend"--"sadiqi"--because his troops were using it perjoritively (along the lines of "gook," I suppose, in still other places and times) to describe the local friendlies and contractors.
At the time, I thought it to be a potentially futile (and Orwellian) attempt to control thought through vocabularly. Looking back, however, I have to report his order had the desired effect: It did not allow soldiers to dehumanize the very people they were there to help.
To expand on your point, then: I guess it pays off not only to recognize What the Other Guy Means by Using a Given Word, but to continually calibrate on What Your Troops Mean by Assimilating Some of the Local Terms.
True. They don't mean to be evil...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Randy Brown
...To expand on your point, then: I guess it pays off not only to recognize What the Other Guy Means by Using a Given Word, but to continually calibrate on What Your Troops Mean by Assimilating Some of the Local Terms.
most of 'em, anyway -- but they sometimes don't think it through. S'okay, 19 year olds aren't supposed to do that; that's what those 25 year old SSGs are supposed to be doing and gently educating the kids to think a bit. Emphasis on 'gently' because harsh foolishness doesn't educate...
A friend sent me that one
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SteveMetz
Let me throw in another take on the "lexicon of extremism" issue (albeit one that will make most Americans uncomfortable):
Precision in the War of Ideas
I'm still working on getting through it. But I think your right about the audiences reception of it, and not yet sure that they would be wrong. We'll see