Talk:War on Terrorism/Archive 6

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This article should be renamed "US War on Terrorism"

or US-led War on Terrorism. for accuracy. 172.132.85.194 06:31, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

As opposed to what? There are many was, past and present, which could arguably be referred to as 'Wars on Terror,' but as far as I'm aware they are not. The term 'War on Terror' is generally accepted to refer to the current conflicts, even by those who have voiceferous objections to the term. It's an unnecessary clarification. Arrogant Papist 11:36, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

"Global War on Terror/Terrorism" (GWOT) is the US government's official name for the conflict since 2001. See:

The Global War on Terrorism: The First 100 Days

The article itself cites a 2004 reference. I located this 2001 White House document with the term in the title and will add it to the references.

-- Petercorless 06:46, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

I don’t think it should be renamed the ‘US war on terrorism’, the term has been used a plenty by other nations. Chwyatt 10:18, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Im of a similar opinion to above. Furthermore military etc action has been carried out by a number of countries including Britian, Israel, Italy, Spain and India if the usage of the phrase indicates a common goal.

I think, if you ask a person (or even ask your self): War on Terrorism. what is the first country that come to mind? Majority will tell you it's the USA. What it SHOULD be named, according to the USA government is irrelevant. Since to be completely fair, as other had pointed out, the official name is "Global War on Terrorism", which really is simply propaganda in the first place. I there for, vote for "US War on Terror" simply because that is what most people are used to, and not what the US government are pushing for.

The Global War on Terrorism seems like the official and acceptable title to me. Regardless of how you want to rename it, the current title War on Terror or War on Terrorism is what has been in common everyday usage. Remember that this war started out as a Global venture with a lot of countries contributing to the cause; not just Britain, but all of NATO and countries like Japan... China even is supplying peace keepers to Darfur. Just because a lot of countries dropped out, distanced themselves from it, or let themselves be intimidated (like Spain) to pull out, doesn't change the nature of the conflict. But if you want to highlight the fact that the United States is the only country with half a spine to keep fighting, then sure... I guess it is the US War on Terrorism.
-GreyGh0st 17:59, 4 February 2007 (UTC)
"China even is supplying peace keepers to Darfur."
Darfur conflict has absolutely NOTHING to do with the War on Terror!
You are assuming every cause that the US government advocates becomes a part of the war on terror.
Darfur peacekeeping is a humanitarian issue overseen by UN, etc. (or it should be if anyone cared about it) It has nothing to do with NATO and US military, who are the coordinators of the "war on terror". —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 172.147.227.44 (talk) 14:54, 7 March 2007 (UTC).

New Intro

The intros used on this article have been relentlessly in violation of NPOV, by not acknowledging who exactly gave the name "War on Terror" and the fact that the words are disputed as an application to this particular campaign, even though they are the official name of it according to the US military. The intro needs to reflect the fact that this article IS largely about the US military-designated campaign referred to by that name (and thus gets a conflict infobox), without pretending that the only understanding of the words "War on Terror" refers directly to the US government and military's own conception of this campaign, or indeed without implying that all these wars are "REALLY" part of the same larger war, just because they have been designated as such. In fact, the common understanding and most frequent use of the words "War on Terror" even within the United States, does not include such conflicts as Iraq. A wikipedia article on this topic, therefore, unless it wants to violate NPOV and come out in support of a particular war or campaign, must explain which exact definition of the war on terror it is covering. I tried to do that.

Here is a new version of the intro which is slightly more detailed (necessary on this article- look at other articles on similarly huge and divisive events). Make any comments you choose.


The War on Terrorism or War on Terror can refer to several distinct conflicts, but it is most recently the name given by the United States of America and its allies to an ongoing campaign with the stated goal of "ending international terrorism," launched in direct response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S., for which al-Qaeda claimed responsibility.[1][2][3]

The campaign's stated goals include preventing those groups identified as "terrorist" by the United States[4] from carrying out attacks and posing a threat to America and its allies; "spreading freedom"[5] and liberal democracy, particularly to the Middle East[6]; and putting an end to state sponsorship of terrorism in so-called rogue[7] and failed states,[8] beginning with the U.S.-backed 2001 overthrow of the Taliban government in Afghanistan, the first specific war associated with the campaign. The War on Terrorism is largely seen as focused on militant Islamist groups such as al-Qaeda and Hezbollah. Before its overthrow in Afghanistan, the Taliban had been harboring elements of al Qaeda and its leader Osama Bin Laden.

The campaign was launched by U.S. President George W. Bush,[9] with support from NATO and other allies, particularly the United Kingdom and its Prime Minister Tony Blair. The "War on Terror" has taken many forms, such as diplomacy, going after "terrorist financing",[10] domestic provisions aiming to prevent future attacks, and joint training and peacekeeping operations with a wide variety of nations. However, the phrase Global War on Terrorism (or GWOT)[11] is the official name used by the U.S. military for operations designated as part of the campaign. Thus, the "War on Terror" as defined by this article is largely a military effort, and has been compared in both its unspecified, continuing duration and its multiple theaters of operation, to the Cold War.[12] The war is also characterized as an ideological struggle, "involving both a battle of arms and a battle of ideas,"[13] and some have characterized it as a "clash of civilizations", or a "crusade" against Islam.[14] Although the U.S.-led coalition that invaded Iraq in 2003 and toppled President Saddam Hussein was made up of allies in the "War on Terror",[15] the current Iraq war and its alleged links to the larger campaign against terrorism have been highly controversial. The Bush Administration has been accused of acting in violation of both international law, human rights,[16] and the U.S. Constitution[17] in its prosecution of the campaign, particularly with regard to the internment of prisoners of war (or "illegal combatants") in its military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.[18]

The U.S. government's articulation of military doctrines such as pre-emptive war and "regime change" as part of the War on Terror, as well as Bush and Blair's justifications for the war, have also been controversial. Both the larger concept of a "War on Terrorism", and the specific tactics used, have been subject to widespread criticism outside of the United States, and world opinion polls[19] have shown limited support even in some nations whose governments and militaries are supportive.[20] In addition, according to the U.S. government's own measures, international terrorist incidents have been on the rise[21] since the campaign began. However, the U.S. and allies have claimed victories, such as democratic elections in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the capture of alleged 9/11 planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.[22] The War on Terrorism has resulted in high civilian and military casualties on both sides,[23][24], and is a "long war" whose planners expect to continue for the foreseeable future.[25]

I disagree, especially since this doesnt seem to be researched much, while I appreciate your efforts at a rewrite, most of the operations in the WOT arent in the middle east, so its a bit odd reading, further most operations do not target al-qaeda and instead general militant islamist groups, and surely no major operations target hezbollah. The whole intro is also highly negative, you should seek the problems I mentioned, shorten the intro and make it less POV. Let me know on my talk page when you are done and I will read it over again. Also you go from Afghanistan -> Iraq skipping 3-4 other WOT operations and major attacks against the US and its allies. --NuclearZer0 18:32, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
Well I hope you see what I was trying to accomplish there, even if it's very flawed. The current (if someone reverted)/old intro is not adequate because it simply parroted back the US/Bush Administration definition of the "war" (which if not for rhetoric, would be classed as multiple separate wars) without explaining that it was doing so. You may say it's NPOV, and it's certainly overlong, but hopefully expert Wikipedians can remove the irrelevant facts from it. Highly negative? The second paragraph makes a direct link between US actions in the war on terror and Al Qaeda culpability in 9/11. If it's POV it's too slanted toward the US.
The fact is, nearly all of the citations I made are directly to the White House and the US military's own web pages. The "war on terror" is defined by the speeches and rhetoric of President George W. Bush. That is why the intro as it exists in the old shorter version is inaccurate. For another thing the war did not start in October 2001 with the bombing of Afghanistan, but in September 2001 when George W. Bush declared a "war on terror" for the first time as a response to 9/11 and basically let everyone know this was going to take a military form as well as other forms. If you are going to say it's anti-American to characterize the war in the exact terms that the US government uses, then I don't really understand that.
I think the only solution really is to make two separate articles.
  • One called Global War on Terror/ism (US-led military campaign) which would get a conflict infobox, and would be an umbrella article with only links and summaries of all the diverse operations officially designated by the US military as part of this "war", without any unique content for this article.
  • And another article simply called US War on Terror/ism, which would be about the campaign in general. It would provide a summary of the military information in the other article but would also be about diplomatic aspects, going after financing sources, "freedom agenda" for the Middle East, war in Iraq, etc - how the war has been defined by its advocates (George W Bush or US generals in speeches, Condoleezza Rice position papers, Tony Blair, foreign leaders who are supportive etc) and also by its critics (human rights groups, international opinion, basically the 90% of people of the world who aren't American).
—Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.132.85.194 (talk • contribs) 21:35, December 3, 2006 (UTC)
I think this intro is an improvement over the previous one, but it does seem to have a bit of a critical POV. Up to the phrase "operations with a wide variety of nations", I really like it, and I think it neutrally presents the WOT well. I'm not an expert on the WOT, so I don't know if all the facts presented are accurate (as NuclearZer0 alleges above), but facts are easy to change if they prove to be inaccurate. The overall tone and presentation is good, though, in my opinion.
I think the intro should end there. The rest should be moved to another section (maybe call it Ideology and Ramifications of the Global War on Terrorism, or come up with a less wordy and more accurate title). This portion could probably also be written a little more neutrally.
—PurpleRAIN 17:01, 4 December 2006 (UTC)
One other thing: within this article, it probably doesn't make sense to put the phrase "War on Terror(ism)" in quotation marks. It definitely gives an impression of POV. —PurpleRAIN 17:09, 4 December 2006 (UTC)
I think it is necessary for the intro to mention to comparison of the WoT to the Cold War (and the use of the phrase "long war"), which has been made both by planners of the war on terror and by opponents- it's pretty universally acknowledged. The quote about being a war both of ideas and battles is from the White House in fact. I also think it is necessary for the intro to mention the fact that including the war in Iraq under the war on terror is particularly controversial both within and outside the US, even if it doesn't go into details of why- if the intro does not mention this, but just explains the goals and aims of the war on terror in combating international terrorism, it will be POV, because for someone who doesn't read the whole article when they look at that conflict infobox on the right it will imply that the War in Iraq is an undisputed part of what is meant by the use of the phrase "War on Teror"- when most people of whatever political affiliation now credit that war with CREATING more terrorism and thus justifying its inclusion under "war on terror" in a tricky sort of way.
and it would be good, I think, that the intro namedrop things like "pre-emptive war", which were part of a new official strategy set out by the administration for the war on terror. and for the intro to mention the detainees controversy, which has been the main focus of opponents of the war on terror and yielded a Supreme Court ruling striking down administration policy in prosecuting the "war" as unconstitutional. if there is a way to mention these things without seeming POV, maybe someone could do it. notice that there is also a sentence about declared victories in the war, like the democratic elections and the capture of KSM. this was an attempt at non-POV. perhaps there could be another phrase about the lack of terrorist attacks on the US since 9/11.
finally, someone suggested that the article was misleading in singling out the Middle East. you're right most of the operations of the WoT have not been in the Middle East, although by far the largest ones have been. but Bush's "spreading freedom" agenda for the WoT did clearly single out the Middle East. I was also thinking, should other terrorist attacks be mentioned in the intro? like Indonesia, UK, Spain, Russia, Egypt, Israel, etc? I think the fact that major international terrorist attacks have continued since 9/11 needs mention in the intro (i.e. the phrase about attacks have increased), but I don't think they should be mentioned specifically, because even if the US has collaborated with certain countries in the WoT, it was not as directly related to these recent attacks on those countries, as much as a continuing response to 9/11. 172.132.85.194 23:18, 4 December 2006 (UTC)
I think geographically there is a misunderstanding, only Iraq is in the middle east. Afghanistan is not, Phillipines is not, Horn of Africa is not etc. Further the London bombers specified there attack was for revenge of what was going on in that region, so its pretty directly related. --NuclearZer0 00:14, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
I'm not disagreeing that most of the things mentioned are important to mention, but an intro should be short and concise. It should state in (ideally) one paragraph the most basic description of the subject, which will be expanded upon in the rest of the article. Someone who wants the most basic overview of the WoT will want to know what it is, how it originated and who's involved. That's what should be in the introduction. The other stuff is important, but is not overview material. It gets into motives and justifications and opposition, which, again, is important to mention, but not in a brief overview. I'm not questioning whether this stuff is universally accepted or controversial; I'm just questioning whether it should all be mentioned in the intro.
It might make sense to have one sentence in there saying that there is a lot of controversy surrounding the motives/ideology/justification for these conflicts, but beyond that, I don't think the rest should be in the intro. People are quite capable of reading on if they need more detail.
—PurpleRAIN 17:14, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
I agree, I think the old one was better, short and concise. --NuclearZer0 17:19, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
Just to be clear, I think this intro is better than the old one; I just think that the last half or so should not be part of the intro (and needs a little POV filtering). —PurpleRAIN 19:25, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Start date of the war

I wanted to discuss the date when the war started. Curently the date is set as October 7 2001, the day tath the bombing of Afghanistan started, but I think that September 11th 2001 should be the start date, because that is the day the war actualy started, the day the terrorists actualy declared war on America and America on them, after all, America already did bomb Afghanistan that same night that they hit New York and Washington, Kabul was hit. So now who agrees with me.

Since this is not a conventional war by any means, it is hard to establish a "Start Date" of the war. Since the "War on Terror" does not just target groups or individuals responsible for the September 11th terror attacks, it would not be proper to say that war was declared by the terrorists involved with 9/11, but rather prompted war aimed at all terrorist groups and their supporters.
Kevcoles 06:00, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Yeah I agree...there really can't be a definite start date for this war. World War Two did not start on December 7th 1941. I've read some historians are now including the Spanish Civil War and the Japanese aggression in Manchurian as parts of WWII. so the start date for WWII would no longer be September 1st, 1939 but much earlier. I think the same is true with this war...if we're fighting Islamic Jihadists and the "we" is all non-Islamic Jihadists then the start date is somewhere in the 1970s.Culmo80 18:45, 7 December 2006 (UTC)culmo80

Removed conflict infobox

In an effort to maintain a neutral point of view, and after having reviewing the discussion on this talk page, I have removed the conflict infobox.

The use of the conflict infobox strongly implies that the War on Terror is a single campaign. However, there are many who do not hold this view, particularly outside of the USA. For example, it could be argued that given the absence of any link between Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda, the US adminstration justified their invasion of Iraq by arbitrarily placing it under the banner of the War on Terror.

A review of versions of this article in other languages makes this clear. None of them use the conflict infobox, and, from what I understand, the German version labels the term "War on Terror" as propaganda.

Futhermore, it is irresponsible to provide definitive casualty counts when it is unclear exactly which conflicts are part of the larger War on Terror. For example, the article notes that the US government considers the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict as a front in the War on Terrorism, and goes on to include those casualty counts. By contrast, the government of Somalia also states it is battling terrorism in its current conflict against Islamist fighters, but that conflict is not included.

Given these facts, I have removed the conflict infobox. If you disagree with this action, then let's at least come up with a clear definition of which individual conflicts should be included before re-adding the infobox.

--Jonovision 22:51, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

The "War on Terrorism" as defined here is the campaign the US began against those they see as "terrorists and state sponsors of terror." Its a designation that the operations in Afghanistan were begun under, the designation the Iraq war was begun under, and the designation that the war in Lebanon was begun under. Stuff like Somalia, while against terrorists, isnt involving anything under the WoT campaign. Many other languages never have infoboxes for anything, and its not surprising that they wouldnt have one for this. ~Rangeley (talk) 23:00, 29 September 2006 (UTC)
Problem is, as pointed out before, the conflict is not as simple as what is shown in the conflict box. NATO is not involved in combat operations in Iraq so it's a major stretch to call it a combatant against the Iraq insurgency. The same is true of France, Germany, Israel, Canada, Pakistan, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. Leave it up to the sub articles to record the combatants as that way you can have a proper accounting of who the combatants are. --Bobblehead 23:31, 29 September 2006 (UTC)
We already discussed this. I pointed out that not every nation listed as an Axis power went into combat against every nation listed as an Allied power. The infobox perhaps be clarified as "Targets" and maybe something like "Participants" to make it clear thats what the sides are if it wasnt already. The argument that every nation on one side has been in combat with every nation of the other (or in this case entity) was, and still is faulty. ~Rangeley (talk) 23:35, 29 September 2006 (UTC)
Except the WWII example isn't applicable. There wasn't any question among the Allied countries that Japan was an enemy of their country and Britain was an ally. In the case of Iraq War that isn't applicable. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone in Canada, France, or Germany that considered the Iraqi insurgency an enemy of their country. Some even question whether or not the US is an ally. --Bobblehead 23:55, 29 September 2006 (UTC)
The Axis powers generally hated each other but cooperated in areas for other reasons. The USA/UK didnt really trust the USSR and the sentiment was shared. I do not see how this holds any bearing on their participation in operations against nations on the axis side, or holding any bearing on axis nations participation in operations against nations on the allied side. Again, we already went over this. In no occasion is a nation on one side of the infobox siding against a nation on their side, and at most are neutral with the nation on the other side rather than in a state of conflict. All of the nations are obviously wartime allies with the USA as far as this is concerned, as they are either participating in a US aided mission such as that in Afghanistan on the side of the USA, or participating in an operation that was begun under the campaign without direct US involvement such as those started by NATO and Israel. Since they are begun under the campaign on the side of the USA they are wartime allies, and since Israel and NATO nations are allies with the USA already it is even clearer that they are in an alliance as far as this campaign goes. ~Rangeley (talk) 00:04, 30 September 2006 (UTC)
I can't read all those languages, but I can read French, and that article makes it perfectly clear that the French authors view of the "War on Terror" as a concept. I don't read much German, but the gist of their version seems the same.
This goes against the NPOV policy, so unless you can figure out some way to tag the infobox itself as reflecting a US point of view, I am removing it for now.
Futhermore, the information in the box remains questionable. For example, why are Hezbollah or Lebanon not included as enemy combantants, while Israel is? While any uncertainity remains about the facts, we should not be summarizing them for people who might just glance at the article. --Jonovision 23:38, 29 September 2006 (UTC)
Wikipedia, or other languages of Wikipedia, are not valid sources for articles on Wikipedia. As to why Hezbollah isnt there, I dont know, someone must have removed it at some point in time as it used to be there. The lists of combatants are not meant to be all inclusive, and there is a link to "others" in one column though the other needs that added. It isnt a US point of view that there is a US led campaign being waged, this is factual and is occuring. The name of this campaign is the "War on Terror," it would be reasonable to think that in other languages "War on Terrorism" refers to the general idea of having a war on terror rather than this specific campaign. This isnt the way it is in the English language where the term has a rather specific identification with this campaign at this point. As we are the english encyclopedia, what things are in English as far as terminology is all that matters. Operations begun under the WoT campaign are the only ones that are parts of this, that includes Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, and anything else that fits the aforementioned requirements. We have sources stating all 3 of these as being a part. Its not merely a POV. ~Rangeley (talk) 23:46, 29 September 2006 (UTC)
When it comes to a subject as complex as the classification of wars, we encyclopedia authors can't simply rely on the sources to name them. Different sources have different names, and it's up to us to make choices. For example, the US government never officially declared war against North Vietnam, in an attempt to downplay it's significance, but we've come to (accurately) call it the Vietnam War. The Wikipedia policy says that nationalistic bias is not acceptable, and many would argue that the term "War on Terror" is used by the US to advance their own goals. As such, the article didn't conform to a NPOV. --Jonovision 00:04, 30 September 2006 (UTC)
War on Islam is a good example of an article that does not merit having a conflict infobox. --Jonovision 00:06, 30 September 2006 (UTC)
We dont seem to be operating on the same wavelength here. In the case of this, the "War on Terror" is being used as a proper noun, not a description. The thing this article is about is the US-led campaign that began after 9-11 and is being waged against organizations they see as terrorists and state sponsors of terror, as stated in the lead paragraph. Whether this is a "war" in the traditional sense doesnt matter, operations within wars have infoboxes, operations out of wars have infoboxes, campaigns have infoboxes, conflicts have infoboxes. By having an infobox on this, we are having it because this is a campaign. The reason this article is here is because 1. War on Terrorism is the common name for the campaign being waged, which is officially known as the "Global War on Terrorism" by the US government but the public calls it this more often, and 2. War on Terrorism most commonly refers to this specific campaign, I have suggested above that if one wants to make an article on the general concept of a "war against terrorists" than they could put it at "War on terror (Term)" or something to that effect and link to it at the top of this page. As far as War on Islam goes, it is not a campaign and is merely a term, like the 10th crusade, to describe perceived conflicts that are going on. ~Rangeley (talk) 00:13, 30 September 2006 (UTC)
I don't disagree that the term "War on Terror" is common in the US, but the same doesn't hold in other countries, particularly ones who participate(d) in the Afganistan campaign and didn't want anything to do with Iraq. It's a commonly held view that the US administration associated terrorism with the Iraq War for the purpose of gaining political support for the invasion. The Wikipedia policies insist on keeping a global perspective, which is hard to do when one uses politically-motivated and emotionally-charged terms like "War on Terror" without identifying them as such. --Jonovision 00:31, 30 September 2006 (UTC)
I can understand your concern, however removing the infobox isnt the way to go about it. Do you agree that there is a US-led campaign being waged? Because this article is detailing this campaign - regardless of what the campaign is named. ~Rangeley (talk) 00:34, 30 September 2006 (UTC)
That's a very good question. Let me preface my answer by saying that I believe the classification a key issue, since it casts many conflicts in a certain light.
I don't agree that all the conflicts mentioned in the article are US-led.
  • The invasion of Iraq is led by the US and UK, with the US making the biggest contribution. The war in Afganistan is led by NATO, with the US again contributing the most.
  • The US has not led, but directly supported other operations, including ones in the Phillipines and Pakistan. I'm not sure why US support against the Islamic Chechen insurgency isn't mentioned here. Perhaps because Russia considers them terrorists, but the US doesn't.
  • The US did not lead, nor directly support Israel's 2006 invasion of Lebanon.
  • Couldn't be more wrong. Actually, the US lead, and directly supported Israel's 2006 invasion of Lebanon. According to the US, Israel launched the counter-offensive to protect and defend itself against terrorism. American government officials and the public say Israel is doing America a favor by going after Hezbollah. In addition, Hezbollah and al-Qaeda are allies, as are the U.S. and Israel. The U.S.-Israeli partnership and military alliance is extremely close and strong. I'm sure they have each other on speed dial. --Shamir1 08:21, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
I anticipated your response, so I clearly defined "direct support" as miltary actions and not simply political support. Also, please give me a source which says that the US "led" the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. --Jonovision 17:23, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
I would qualify both of you comments, but first: i take GREAT exception to the assertion that the US directly supported isreal's involvement in the late war, we did not. We sent no troops, no arms, and no money. however, the Bush Administration did seem tocondone isreal's operation in lebanon, and certainly made little meaningful effort to stay isreal's hand while encouraging the Lebonese government to "do something" (i don't think any of us can be sure exactly what, frankly i doubt they know either). and the US does support (and has for many years) the state of israel, both financially and militarily. If that is what you mean, then say that, but do not oversimplify the issue by boxing it into and easily consumptable package aimed at decieving the virually illiterate masses. i can think of no one in politics that you sound more like than our dear Neo-Conservative Republicans, dispite your opposition to them.
  • The US definitely was not involved in Saudi Arabia's fight against their insurgency. I don't know a lot about Saudi politics, but I'm under the impression that the government there was unhappy with US military presence, and told them to leave.
Note: by "direct support", I refer to military actions, rather than political support or sales of military hardware. --Jonovision 01:34, 30 September 2006 (UTC)
I've been at a loss to explain which conflicts merit inclusion in this article, so I've come up with a set of rules. A conflict is part of the War in Terror if:
  • it is labeled as such by the US government (explains the inclusion of the Afganistan War, Iraq War, Phillipines operation, Waziristan war, 2006 Isreal-Lebanon conflict)
  • it involves al-Qaeda (explains inclusion of Saudi Arabia)
  • it involves Islamic terrorists, specifically in Indonesia, but not elsewhere.
I think this article would benefit from having a clearer definition. I have a couple of suggestions:
  • "The War on Terror is the worldwide fight against Muslim extremists"
pros: includes everything currently in the article. cons: we would have to add Malaysia, India, Chechnya, and a bunch of other conflict zones.
  • "The War on Terror includes any conflict the USA has been involved in since 9/11"
pros: includes only US-supported operations. cons: doesn't include Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, or Indonesia, and potentially includes any future US operations.
Any better suggestions? --Jonovision 01:59, 30 September 2006 (UTC)
Yes, as it appears you misinterpretted "US-Led." It does not mean that the USA is involved militarilly in every operation, but instead that the USA began the campaign, and other nations have joined on into the campaign since that point. Most of the first part of your response deals with how the USA does not always make the biggest contribution, this is true but irrelevant. Every conflict started by or participated in by the USA is not a part of the War on Terror, American operations in Haiti were done seperately for example. This would be a case of confusing the cause and effect, they are not part of the campaign because they happened after 9-11, but instead they happened after 9-11 because it was after this point the campaign began and thus everything in the WoT is post 9-11. The campaign is not any conflict fought against muslim extremists, as any nation could do that. This campaign is a specific campaign, the issue of what it is has already been dealt with in the article itself... it is US-led campaign, enlisting the aid of allies, against those designated as terrorist groups and state sponsors of terror. The Lebanon operations were begun by Israel under the designation, and both the Israeli government and the American government recognized it as such. THe Chechnya war began in 1999, 2 years before this campaign, and therefore could not have been begun under it. Iraq was begun as a part of the WoT, in the authorization of force it was done in order to "prosecute the War on Terrorism." It isnt our job to decide what is and what isnt part, or to set a criteria such as it has to be against muslim extremists. Whatever has been begun under ithis campaign, as identified by sources, is what we will include as being a part of the campaign. ~Rangeley (talk) 03:49, 30 September 2006 (UTC)
You've made it clear how difficult it is to define the "War on Terror". Many of the conflicts currently mentioned in the article predate 9/11. The Saudi insurgency and the Phillipines' campaign against Islamic terrorists were both active in the 1990's. Israel's most recent conflict with Lebanon has roots that go back decades.
Just like the Chechen War, these conflicts began long before the US administration labeled them as being part of the War on Terror. It seems fair to say that the US didn't enlist the aid of some of these countries, but that after the events of 9/11, these countries saw a new US attitude towards terrorism, and asked for help.
Given that, I think we still don't have a clear enough definition of "War on Terror" to summarize it in an infobox. --Jonovision 06:27, 30 September 2006 (UTC)
No, you simply continue to confuse what is being said. The conflict with Lebanon that began years ago is not the one that is part of this, it is specifically Operation Change of Direction, launched July 12th (or thereabouts.) It is this operation that was begun under the campaign. Likewise, every conflict that ever occured in Afghanistan, such as the Afghan Civil War (1996-2001), is not included in the War on Terror. Only the operations begun under the War on Terror, such as Operation Enduring Freedom, are part of it. The same goes for the Phillipines, only Operation Enduring Freedom is included as part of the WoT, not operations predating the campaign. Again, any operation began under the campaign is included in the campaign. Its not difficult, and claiming it is difficult is no justification to keep removing the Infobox. ~Rangeley (talk) 16:32, 30 September 2006 (UTC)
So if I understand you correctly, you are saying that despite the fact that Israel has had operations against Hezbollah predating 9/11, and despite the fact that the USA military was not involved in the lastest Lebanon conflict, it is part of the US-led War on Terror? --Jonovision 22:35, 30 September 2006 (UTC)
In a further demonstration of the complexity of the subject, a recent editor has pointed out that Indian police have accussed Pakistan of planning terrorists attacks against India. How can we summarize this conflict in an InfoBox if the article itself says that two of the listed Allies may be in conflict? --Jonovision 22:40, 30 September 2006 (UTC)
The reason that operations done before 9-11 and the War on Terrorism began is because for one it would be logically impossible for an operation to be part of something that had not yet been made. The War on Terrorism began on October 7th, 2001 with the commencement of OEF, the first operation carried out under it. The reason that Operation Change of Direction is part of the campaign is because it was begun under it, as stated by both the American and Israeli governments. I will point you to the section detailing Operation Change of Direction in this very article where sources are produced stating this. In World War Two, the Soviet Union invaded Poland. Yet both are considered allies. There have been far more peculiar things that have happened in the past in wars than this, and keep in mind that India has not participated in any operations of the War on Terrorism whereas Pakistan has. Pakistan and India have had trouble with each other since they became nations, that would not negate their cooperation in a given operation - if such a thing occured, which it has not yet. ~Rangeley (talk) 23:45, 30 September 2006 (UTC)
You make good points about World War 2, but let me also point out that in such cases, we have time on our side to sort things out. It is, however, premature to summarize the War on Terror at this point, especially since there is still a bitter, ongoing debate about whether a conflict such as the Iraq War can legitimately be called a "War on Terrorism", or whether it was simply named that as a form of propaganda.
Futhermore, I have followed your suggestion, and read the sources (numbers 24-28). I find that the usage of the term "war on terror" is consistant with the view advanced by others that the war on terror is not a single campaign, but rather that is is a geopolitical concept (akin to "Cold War"). Here are the relevant quotes:
  • 'US President George W Bush says the Lebanon war is part of a broader struggle against terrorism.'
  • 'Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Wednesday morning that Israel is fighting a war of the free world against terror.'
  • 'Bush said Hezbollah and its supporters in Iran and Syria were responsible for the 34-day war, and called that conflict "part of a broader struggle between freedom and terror."'
Note the use of "a war/struggle" as opposed to "the war/struggle". --Jonovision 04:17, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
Yes, a similar discussion has already occured on this subject. There is a struggle of ideologies, akin to the Cold War, that is occuring. But this article is not about that struggle, but instead about a campaign that the USA and allies are leading in this "ideological struggle." For example, when terrorists launch an attack on the Madrid trains, this was obviously not carried out as an operation of the WoT, though its part of the ideological conflict going on between the western cultures and Islamic extremism. In the Cold War, there was not a large campaign waged, though there were many seperate ones, such as the Vietnam war, Korean war, etc. The difference here is that the USA and allies are putting together different responses into a single campaign, as noted in their military designations and operational medals. The issue of whether the Iraq War is part of the WoT campaign has been settled here already. Again, I point you to the section detailing the Iraq war. It has links to the original authorization of force which was done to "prosecute the war on terror," was stated before in speeches as being the "next step" and the US army gave WoT medals to soldiers who served in the Iraq War, same as they did for the Afghan war. ~Rangeley (talk) 04:47, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
It's clear that the US administration refers to the Iraq War as part of the war on terror, but the fact remains that a significant number of people, foreign governments, and NGOs do not consider it to be part of the same campaign. The view that they are part of the same campaign is irrefutably a single point of view, held mainly by some in the US and UK. (For example, see [[1]] -- Poland admits its "ultimate objective" is to acquire supplies of Iraqi oil.) On Wikipedia, we don't name war articles by names given to them for nationalistic purposes ("Vietnam Conflict", "Great Patriotic War"), because that is a clear violation of the NPOV policy. --Jonovision 05:21, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
They may not consider it to be part of the ideological struggle, I think that is more or less what the debate going on is about. There is no debate that militarilly speaking, it was begun under the same campaign. To debate that is pretty silly as it is indeed straight forward. I find it interesting that you bring up the Poland point, as that reflects a misunderstanding of what it means to be part of this campaign. By saying its part of the campaign, that is not to say that the Iraq War was begun to fight terrorism. The campaign that this was begun under is not an attempt to describe the nature of the war itself, but instead is merely stating that the operation, Operation Iraqi Freedom, was begun under the larger campaign, as shown by the medals awarded by the US Army. Whatever the ultimate objective, this point stands.
So again, the issue of whether its the same campaign is not a debatable point, its a settled issue and is not the same debate going on in Washington, London, elsewhere. As to the name not being something nationalistic, this isnt always true. Generally the most popular name is used, the Vietnam War and Iraq War are good examples. They were not officially wars, but everyone called them wars at the time and since. The Korean War was legitimately a "police action" officially, as it was done by the United Nations, but people called it a war then and now. This campaign is most commonly referred to by this name in English, and thus thats where it is.
I again suggest making an article for the ideological struggle between the West and Islamic extremism, as that seems to be what you are confusing this with. ~Rangeley (talk) 12:42, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
I think you need to be more specific about the phrase "begun under". When you say "the War in Iraq was begin under the War on Terror", the only interpretation of that which fits the facts is that the Iraq War was named to be part of the war on terror. It's well known that planning for the Iraq war goes back at least as far as 1992, with Paul Wolfowitz's document on the subject. Similarly, the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict has its roots in earlier events in that region. Our job as encyclopedia editors is to organize information to allow the reader to gain insight into the subject, not to parrot nationalistic slogans like "War on Terrorism", which have an inherent bias. --Jonovision 17:23, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
Alright, glad we are getting someplace. The operation named "Operation Iraqi Freedom" was started as a part of the campaign named "War on Terrorism." Lets look at an analogy, a writer puts together a series of books called "The Best Series of Books Ever." It has 3 books in the series, and each book was released under the above stated series. Lets apply some of your "points" to this. 1. The second book is about the main character travelling to Iraq, a concept the author originally envisioned in 1982 and planned as a stand alone novel before being canceled. Problem with this point: Who thought of it first, when the seeds were planted, and when it was first conceptualized holds no bearing on whether or not it was released as a part of the series. If the author released it as a part of the series, its part of the series. 2. The book series has a propagandistic name meant to elicit a reaction, and therefore it is not our place to parrot the author and say its part of the series. Problem: The name of the series holds no bearing on whether the book was released as a part of the series. It is not parroting the author to recognize the truth, that it was released as a part of the aforementioned series, as the author is the sole determinent of what is and isnt part of the series. When a series or campaign is made, its our job to recognize what is done under these in order to represent to our readers the true scope of such things. When said series or campaigns are named in propagandistic names, its still our job to state their names. When said series or campaigns include operations or new books, its our job to state this too. ~Rangeley (talk) 18:48, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
I don't quite agree with your analogy, but I'll expand on it for the sake of argument. Let's say this hypothetical series of books is written by an author named Bush. One day, another author, named Ehud Olmert, writes a similarly themed book, with a similar title. The author named Bush announces that this new book is also part of his series, despite the fact that Olmert hasn't ever said he was writing a new book in Bush's series. In fact, Olmert has been writing similarly themes books for decades before Bush really got involved in the genre. Does this make Olmert's book a part of Bush's series?
In any case, this analogy isn't very applicable, since works of an author inherently possess the authors point of view. On the other hand, wars are actual events, and, as such, it is up to us, the encyclopedia editors, to describe these events accurately. For example, the Nanking Massacre is still referred to by some in Japan as the "Nanking Incident", but, given the facts, the editors of that article have appropriately classified it as a "massacre".
Given that, I don't think we can disregard the fact that a significant number of people and governments feel that the Iraq War cannot be properly understood as part of a unified "War on Terror" campaign, but is rather best described as an element of a politically-biased, conceptual "war on terror". --Jonovision 21:45, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
I appreciate your persistance, however you have yet again missed the mark somewhat. Your expansion is true, if an author did not intend their book, or publish their book as a part of the series, it wouldnt be one. But if the author named "Bush" and the author named "Olmert" both said it was, than it would be. Thats where we are at now, even though Israel had many other "books" in this "genre," both the US and Israeli governments recognized it as a part of the campaign. Again, there are links provided in the Lebanon section to both Israeli and American officials stating it as such. ~Rangeley (talk) 23:53, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
Earlier, you asked me to have a look at the links in the Lebanon section, and, as I noted, they do not say that Israel is part of a US-led War on Terror. The exact quote from the article is: 'Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Wednesday morning that Israel is fighting a war of the free world against terror.' Futhermore, that article (footnote 28) does not even mention the US. The usage of "war on terror" is, in this context, consistant with the view of the war on terror as a geopolitical concept, rather than a single campaign. --Jonovision 03:52, 2 October 2006 (UTC)
If you're looking for exact wording, I suggest you look at footnote 26. In the headline and in the text of the article GWB says Lebanon is part of the "war on terror". --Bobblehead 16:41, 2 October 2006 (UTC)
If this article is to reproduce what GWB says, then it must be clear from the beginning, from the title and the first sentence, where the reader is supposed to see what the article is about. DavidMarciano 16:54, 2 October 2006 (UTC)
Bobble, I addressed that exact point earlier in the discussion. The quote from the article is: 'US President George W Bush says the Lebanon war is part of a broader struggle against terrorism.' Not part of "The War on Terror" or "Our War on Terror". Moreover, if the US administration announces that another country's conflict is part of a war on terror, that does not imply that conflict a part of a US-led "War on Terror", which is what Rangeley had suggested. --Jonovision 00:36, 3 October 2006 (UTC)
Fine. Fine. 'Cause you know, people always use the proper name when talking about a war. I'm sure Roosevelt and Churchill made sure to refer to WWII as World War II in every speech they gave and never refer to it as the struggle against Nazi aggression. It's all semantics really. Anyways, here ya go link of GWB linking the war on terror to the Lebanon conflict using the words "war on terror". [2] --Bobblehead 02:15, 3 October 2006 (UTC)
That's right, Roosevelt and Churchill didn't refer to the war as "World War 2", at least not until later in the conflict. In the USSR, the war was called the Sacred War, or later the Great Patriotic War. I don't know what it was called in Germany, but I'd bet they had some equally rousing and nationalistic name. We now use an accurate and politically neutral names to describe it. Nowadays, many people, and governments, especially outside of the US and UK, do not consider it accurate to classify the "War on Terror" as a single campaign, and see the term as being politically loaded. It's irresponsible to summarize the conflict in an infobox when the facts of the article are themselves under such intense debate.
In any case, I read your link, and in my opinion, it supports the view of the war on terror as a geopolitical concept, not a single campaign. His use of the words "a broader struggle between freedom and terror" instead of "The/our War on Terror" imply that Bush is referring not to a single, US-led campaign, but rather many individual conflicts, happening in many different places in the world, which share some of the same ideological underpinnings. --Jonovision 05:20, 3 October 2006 (UTC)
This discussion is confusing. On the one hand, the argument is being made that "War on Terrorism" is a proper name; the name of the specific campaign involving specific conflicts. On the other hand the previous paragraphs seem to be saying that anytime "war" and "terror" are mentioned in relation to a conflict, it becomes a part of this campaign. You can't have both. Either this is a specific primarily-U.S campaign and should be labelled as such in the title, or this is a more wide-ranging ideological geopolitical concept, in which case the majority of the article text (including the infobox) doesn't apply. Perhaps an appropriate title for the current article would be "War on Terrorism (military campaign)"? --PurpleRain 16:41, 12 October 2006 (UTC)
This is about the military campaign as that is what the War on Terrorism is more commonly reffering to. However as noted here, probably archived now, people are invited to make an article on the ideological struggle and name it War on Terrorism (ideological struggle) or whatever else they care to and make a disambiguation page or link at the top of this one. --NuclearZer0 16:44, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

the purpose of the Conflictbox is to simplify and clarify a war the box for this page however seems to have the opposite effect, on top of that the box is used by no other language in this page,with obvious reason its very nature precludes an effective use, it would be better to leave it out.Freepsbane 02:37, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

Where is this "different languages dont have it" argument coming from? Once again, Wikipedia is not a source of information for Wikipedia articles, this is a campaign and campaigns can have infoboxes, lone operations outside of wars can have infoboxes such as Operation Desert Fox. ~Rangeley (talk) 03:49, 30 September 2006 (UTC)
Basically what Rangeley says is that “War on Terrorism” is a name here. Rangeley simply disregards that it is chiefly a slogan. It being a “name” chosen by the Bush Administration, the latter is entitled to put whatever it wants under it, in Rangeley’s opinion. And Rangeley goes further by implying that Wikipedia’s job is just to reproduce whatever the “owner” of the name wants to put under it, no matter how other people see the issue. Does this need any elaboration regarding POV? DavidMarciano 20:40, 30 September 2006 (UTC)
Again, the USA began a campaign in response to the 9-11 terrorist attack, this article details the campaign. The campaign has a name, and it is the "Global War against Terrorism," more popularly called the "War on Terrorism." As such, the article on the campaign is located here. ~Rangeley (talk) 22:00, 30 September 2006 (UTC)