Operation Infinite Justice: The United States soon realized that, in Islam, this sort of finality can be ensured only by Allah. Now comes Operation Enduring Freedom. It does have a nicer ring.
Terrorist: Claiming objectivity, Reuters refrains from using this term to describe the attackers. Reality check, please. According to Webster’s Third New International edition, a terrorist is “1. an advocate or practitioner of terror as a means of coercion. 2. one who panics or causes anxiety.” The guys who committed the attacks on America fit either bill as far as PERI is concerned.
Muslim terrorist and Islamic terrorist: Wrong and wrong, say some religious scholars. Did we call Timothy McVeigh a Christian terrorist? This deeply offends the millions of Muslims who have no connection whatsoever to terrorism. This is not a religious battle (see “crusade”); it’s a war against bin Laden, and the mind-set he personifies. PERI suggests using the expression Osama-bin-Ladenists, a.k.a. Obblies.
Meanwhile… Some people just don’t get such semantic significances. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi last week opened mouth and inserted foot: “Our civilization is superior to Islam,” he declared, adding that “the West should be confident of the superiority of our civilization.” Perhaps this is one answer to the question puzzling Westerners right now: why exactly do they hate us?
