GWOT is so 2004...

Wanted new name. The Global War on Terror just isn't catchy anymore. Says BBC:

The Bush administration is abandoning the phrase "war on terror" to better express the fight against al-Qaeda and other groups as an ideological struggle as much as a military mission.

While the slogan - first used by President George W Bush in the wake of the 9/11 attacks - may still be heard from time to time, the White House says it will increasingly be couched in other language..

In recent days, senior administration figures have been speaking publicly of "a global struggle against the enemies of freedom", and of the need to use all "tools of statecraft" to defeat them.

With over 100,000 troops abroad we are definitely at war with someone. Still, terror isn't a conventional war. By which I mean it's more like the war on drugs. By which I mean it's a new fat of life where, in reality, simply holding the status quo is probably the best we can do.

For what it's worth, I agree with a terminology change. (excepting Iraq) The war on terrorism is fought on the fringes. There is no front, except occasionally the front page. Just as the Cold War (another non-war) was spy vs spy, the major battles of this conflict will be fought deep undercover.

Omnipresent "White House Official":
"The 'war' is more than a military response, it is a battle of ideas and a struggle against extremism, and all aspects of the US Government and its allies around the world need to be called upon in fighting it."

We need a word that captures the multi-faceted essence of the struggle: the battle of ideas and ideology. The word that begs to be used, "crusade", is a bad idea. "Jihad" is already taken. We'll just have to wait and see what they come up with.