Yes, Words Matter....

I've been writing a lot about the importance of language and how its misuse leads to dangerous misperceptions and distortions of our mission in Iraq and elsewhere. Now, via Eric Umansky with a hat tip to Kevin Drum, here are some recent comments from Lt. General Wallace Gregson, commander of all Marine forces in the Pacific theater and one of the nation's most respected officers:

This war has a popular label and a political label, but it’s not accurate. Terrorism is a means of power projection, it’s a weapon, it’s a tool of war. Think of it as our enemy’s stealth bomber. This is no more a war on terrorism than World War II was a war on submarines. It’s not just semantics. Words have meaning. And these words are leading us down to the wrong concept.

The link to the rest of the general's comments is here. Will this have any effect on those who need to hear it most? No. But it may help others understand why, by every indication, we'll continue to lose extraordinary amounts of blood and treasure for years to come while our political leadership worships cynically at the altar of the Thesaurus.