For Effective Counterterrorism, Abandon the Language of Defeat

David Sterman wrote an article for Responsible Statecraft on the power of rhetoric and language in counterterrorism.

One word has come to dominate the political discussion of American counterterrorism objectives: defeat. It has been used across the political spectrum. Yet the language of “defeat” is often at odds with an effective counterterrorism strategy promising unachievable ends that consistently make the United States and those politicians who promise defeat prone to failure when terrorist groups prove resilient.

In September 2001, President George W. Bush, laid out a wide-ranging objective for the so-called “war on terrorism,” stating, “Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated.” When President Obama took over, he continued an already occurring process of narrowing the focus of the war. His 2011 Counterterrorism Strategy stated, “this Administration has made it clear that we are not at war with the tactic of terrorism or the religion of Islam. We are at war with a specific organization—al-Qa‘ida.” Yet the strategy maintained the goal of defeat: “This Strategy articulates how we will achieve a future in which al-Qa‘ida and its affiliates and adherents are defeated—and their ideology ultimately meets the same fate as its founder and leader.”