2008 Woodie Awards
Redefining terror war
Kathleen Olp - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 12/6/07 Section: Metro
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Philip Gordon says the problems in Iraq originate from the language used in "the war on terror."
"It's a substantive fight versus a rhetorical fight," said the senior fellow for foreign policy at the Brookings Institution said. "The war on terror: What does that mean? We need a new phrase."
Gordon gave a lecture Wednesday titled "Winning the Right War: The Path to Security for America and the World" at the Congregational Church, 30 N. Clinton St.. The Iowa City Foreign Relations Council hosted the event, and the National Security Network of Johnson County made Gordon's trip possible.
"It's time to take a step back and see how we are doing," Gordon said. "There is increasingly no end in sight."
He stressed the importance of redefining the war as defeating the ideological adversary. Using the Cold War logic of containment would serve to improve the mess, he said. "We have to contain the threat, rather than thinking we can eliminate it immediately," he said.
The unpopularity of the United States abroad remains a major concern for him, he said, noting that the U.S. approval rating is decreasing - for example, approval of the United States in Turkey has declined from 12 percent to 9 percent.
Gordon began his research on foreign policy in Europe but moved his focus to the Middle East as security concerns shifted. He traveled to Pakistan in May, visiting Peshawar University in northwestern Pakistan, giving similar speeches as he gave Wednesday.
"It was both depressing and encouraging," he said.
Gordon said while in the frontier province talking with the Pashtuns, one of Pakistan's large ethnic groups, he remembered a man saying, "We've lived like this for 2,000 years. We've been killing people and repressing women. You think you can send your NATO forces, and we will change, but you're wrong."
He also recalled a trip to Jordan after 9/11 in which he saw a similar discouraging tone.
"It made me aware of how deep the hole was," he said.
"It's a substantive fight versus a rhetorical fight," said the senior fellow for foreign policy at the Brookings Institution said. "The war on terror: What does that mean? We need a new phrase."
Gordon gave a lecture Wednesday titled "Winning the Right War: The Path to Security for America and the World" at the Congregational Church, 30 N. Clinton St.. The Iowa City Foreign Relations Council hosted the event, and the National Security Network of Johnson County made Gordon's trip possible.
"It's time to take a step back and see how we are doing," Gordon said. "There is increasingly no end in sight."
He stressed the importance of redefining the war as defeating the ideological adversary. Using the Cold War logic of containment would serve to improve the mess, he said. "We have to contain the threat, rather than thinking we can eliminate it immediately," he said.
The unpopularity of the United States abroad remains a major concern for him, he said, noting that the U.S. approval rating is decreasing - for example, approval of the United States in Turkey has declined from 12 percent to 9 percent.
Gordon began his research on foreign policy in Europe but moved his focus to the Middle East as security concerns shifted. He traveled to Pakistan in May, visiting Peshawar University in northwestern Pakistan, giving similar speeches as he gave Wednesday.
"It was both depressing and encouraging," he said.
Gordon said while in the frontier province talking with the Pashtuns, one of Pakistan's large ethnic groups, he remembered a man saying, "We've lived like this for 2,000 years. We've been killing people and repressing women. You think you can send your NATO forces, and we will change, but you're wrong."
He also recalled a trip to Jordan after 9/11 in which he saw a similar discouraging tone.
"It made me aware of how deep the hole was," he said.
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