Posted on 09/18/2001 1:19:22 PM PDT by Ganymede
White House apologizes for using 'crusade' to describe war on terrorism
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush regrets using the word "crusade," with all its historical connotations of religious war, to describe his campaign against terrorists, his spokesman said Tuesday.
Bush only meant to say that his is a "broad cause" to stamp out terrorism worldwide, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said.
"I think to the degree that that word has any connotations that would upset any of our partners or anybody else in the world, the president would regret if anything like that was conveyed. But the purpose of his conveying it is in the traditional English sense of the word, it's a broad cause," said Fleischer.
On Sunday, Bush had told reporters: "This crusade, this war on terrorism is going to take a while."
With that comment, he stoked suspicion in some Arab and Muslim quarters where crusade is a loaded term that recalls the Christians' medieval wars against Muslims in the Holy Land. Bush is trying to rally Arab nations to join an international coalition against the perpetrators of last week's twin terrorist strikes in New York and Washington.
"I think what the president was saying had no intended consequences for anybody, Muslim or otherwise, other than to say that this is a broad cause that he is calling on America and the nations around the world to join," Fleischer said.
That's because they are fighting a jihad.
We on the other hand, are fighting terrorists. Their faith is not the issue. Their actions are.
Get it?
More malaprops. Where is Peggy Noonan?
A crusade is a religious war. A jihad is also a religious war. But (pay attention, this is the tricky part) while our enemies may very well be fighting a jihad (religious war)... we as Americans, are NOT.
We are fighting a war to defend our nation against terrorists. The religion of the terrorists is inconsequential. The actions (and not the religion) of the terrorists is what will bring down our wrath upon them.
A vigorous concerted movement for a cause or against an abuse. See Synonyms at campaign
Stop apologizing.
It's okay to acknowledge a mistake when one is made.
Really. It's okay.
Most Arabs were on the other side of that Crusade too.
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