The Bush Administration has adopted the phrase the "Long War" from U.S. military generals to describe the ongoing global war on terror. The change in terminology has met with mixed reactions.
Dovish administration opponents view the terminology as an attempt to further embolden the president to spend billions on wars in faraway lands, and reason that his hawkish approach abroad has lead to increased animosity and terrorist activity against US interests.
Supporters view the Long War as an apt description of a necessary conflict against a brutal fundamentalist enemy who seeks to eliminate the U.S. and its way of life. They dismiss opponents' criticisms as similar to those during the Reagan Cold War era, and look at the disintegration of communism in Europe as validation to apply a similar blueprint of uncompromising strength against those who seek to harm the U.S. and its allies.
As usual, the majority of the country likely sits toward the center of the spectrum, with an understanding of the necessity to eliminate the threat of more terrorist attacks, but frustrated by mounting costs and the loss of life.
The Bush administration is seeking buy-in that the Long War, similar to the Cold War, is the moral obligation of our time to defend freedom for future generations. If there are a few similarities between the Cold War era and today's conflict, they're limited to catchy terminology and a mutual view of the opponent's ideology as "evil".
The Cold War was a standoff against a clear adversary. The Long War is fought against an elusive and organized network of cells that operates across borders, hides within communities and recruits impoverished youths by convincing them that a suicide mission will result in a glorious afterlife and financial returns to their surviving family members.
The epicenter of this conflict is clearly in Iraq. Opponents of the war argue that the US was baited by Al-Qaida to a fight on their turf, and that the real war started when Saddam Hussein's Baathist party fell.
Supporters of the war take the view that it's better to fight them "over there" than "here", and that establishing a thriving democracy in the heart of the Muslim world will, in time, create a domino effect. Sensing the urgency of democracy taking root with the people after successful elections, the Sunni extremists of Al-Qaida have attempted to destabilize the region into civil war with a deadly wave of strategic suicide attacks, including the recent destruction of the gold dome of the Shiite Askariya shrine in Samarra on Feb. 22.
The Pentagon is taking steps to more effectively face the challenges of the Long War, as outlined in the four-year strategic security document, the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), recently submitted to Congress.
The main characteristics of the strategy specific to the Long War are improved efficiency in intelligence sharing internally between domestic agencies and externally with foreign governments, training the militaries of other nations such as Afgahnistan, Iraq and the Philippines to become increasingly more self-sufficient, and continuing to target and raid sanctuaries for terrorist operations.
Defense Secretary Rumsfeld's ongoing cultural, organizational and communication-channel overhaul of the Department of Defense (DOD); referred to as the "Transformation" initiative, is also aimed at modernizing the DOD to adapt to defending the U.S. in the information age.
President Bush has included a five percent increase for the Pentagon; separate from the cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in his 2007 fiscal budget recently sent to Congress.
Outside of the Pentagon's domain, success in the Long War calls for better diplomatic teamwork amongst nations to constantly pressure the terrorist infrastructures, and more humanitarian missions to reassure moderate Muslims and potential terrorist recruits that U.S. interests are not of an imperial nature.