We are fighting a...uh..what do you call it?

Since a fateful day in September in 2001, this country has been at war with a fraction of radical Islamic terrorist who are driven by the hope of destroying America, our way of life, and everything this country intended to represent - freedom, liberty and the pursuit of happiness - at its founding. In all truth, this war began long before 9/11. We were routinely attacked throughout the 90s. During this decade, the terrorist grew stronger in numbers and influence, became more organized and designed more horrific attacks.

These aren't soldiers defending a sovereign nation from an aggressor nor are they representing a specific country. They are rogue; they are terrorist. They aren't trained in military tactics or strategy. They don’t wear uniforms (besides cowardly hiding behind masks) or carry a flag (but they burn them often). They train to kill; to kill innocents and as many of them as possible. Their aim is to create fear and to annihilate Western civilization (you and me). They wake in the morning with this end on their mind. They eat, train, think and live with this mission to kill, perpetuate terror in the world, and bring down the establishments of the Western world. This is an enemy who lurks in the shadows.

On 9/11, Americans and the President declared in a unified voice: We will not sit idle while terrorist plan our demise. We will fight back. We will fight our enemies; follow them to the gates of hell and beyond, if necessary. We will find you and destroy you. This country was ready and prepared to do whatever was necessary to keep America secure and our civilians safe.

Names. Everything is in a name. A name defines what something is and what it is not. A name clearly states an entities existence. Over the last eight years, we were all accustomed to calling this the "Global War on Terror" or, less common, “A long war". A Global War on Terror: this was true. Western civilizations as a whole are threatened by these terrorist. If someone doubts that, look at the horrible attacks that took place in Spain and India and the attempts that were made in England. This is a war that threatens the stability of democracies throughout the world. Every nation who treasures freedom and liberty is a target and therefore is engaged in this conflict. And, yes, this is a war against terror and those who live under that banner. We are not fighting a country or nation, but those who adhere to the ideology of terror.

A long war: This is true. This will be a long war. It is a battle of ideology, much like the Cold War. And, like the Cold War, it will take generations to succeed. It is never easy to change a people’s ideology. There are many facets: political, cultural, economic, religious etc.

Until now, we were engaged in a conflict with a clear objective. However, things have recently changed.
President Obama has sent out a mass memo: forget the Global War on Terror or the Long War. We are now fighting an Overseas Contingency Operation (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/24/AR2009032402818.html). I have no clue what that means.

Overseas: Ok, fine, that fits.
Contingency: What? I looked at a few definitions to try and figure this out. Most of the definitions were the same: 1. a possible event, occurrence or result 2. the state of being contingent on something. Again, what? It kind of sounds like we are not exactly sure, confident or clear about what we are involved in, what we are trying to accomplish or what the purpose of all this is.
Operation: Sounds like this is an isolated effort without a long term goal.

This is a tremendous error in judgment. This is a time when we must be confident, we must be vigilant, we must be willing to see this to the end (even if that is long), and we must be willing to wage a war that will be waged with or without us.

If you aren't willing to call it the way it is, how on earth are you going to be able to do what must be done? You won't. And, our enemies know that.