The new language used to describe war in Iraq
(It is part of an effort by the administration to make war, and national security, an issue in the November election.)
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President Bush tried Thursday to rally support for the war in Iraq using a new and controversial tactic: comparing the enemy there to the Nazis and fascists of World War II.
"The fighting there can be as fierce as Omaha Beach or Guadalcanal," he told an audience of veterans in Salt Lake City.
"The war we fight today is more than a military conflict," he said. "It is the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century."
Bush first used World War II analogies after the airplane plot was broken up this month in Britian.
"This nation is at war with Islamic fascists," he said on August 10.
It's that F-word in particular that seems to be the administration's word weapon of choice.
Earlier this week, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld spoke even more passionately about fascism.
"Once again, we face similar challenges in efforts to confront the rising threat of a new type of fascism," he said.
The administration wants America to believe Hitler and Mussolini, from World War II, have something in common with insurgents today.
"World War II is really the last time there was massive unity in a wartime situation," said historian Hy Berman, a professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota.
Berman said he understands why the administration would want Americans to rally. But he said someone who sought German dominance has little in common with someone waging a holy war.
"They're not fascists," Berman said. "Fascism, as a movement, was a movement of national integration, of national coordination - one that focused on race rather than religion."
As for a "new type" of fascism, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann had this to say about Donald Rumsfeld and the defense secretary's efforts to "demonize" war critics:
"As he was correct to remind us how a government that knew everything could get it wrong, so too was he right when he said that - though probably not in the way he thought he meant it. This country faces a new type of fascism, indeed."
The new rhetoric about the war in Iraq comes as new polls show more Americans do not see that war as part of an overall war on terror.
It is part of an effort by the administration to make war, and national security, an issue in the November election. |
