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'War on terror' label was a mistake, says No 10
Joe Murphy, Political Editor15 Jan 2009
David Miliband drew a line under the George Bush era today by admitting the "war on terror" was a mistake.
The Foreign Secretary said the term may have done "more harm than good" and perhaps even strengthened the hand of violent extremists.
In an interview that anticipated the handover of power next Tuesday from President Bush to Barack Obama, he said the West could not "kill its way" to safety from terrorist threats.
Candidly admitting some of the mistakes made since 2001, he said it had been wrong to attempt to characterise the complex battle against radical Islamists as a struggle between good and evil. "Historians will judge whether it has done more harm than good," Mr Miliband said of the phrase "war on terror".
"The more we lump terrorist groups together and draw the battle lines as a simple binary struggle between moderates and extremists or good and evil, the more we play into the hands of those seeking to unify groups with little in common.
"We should expose their claim to a compelling and overarching explanation and narrative as the lie that it is. Terrorism is a deadly tactic, not an institution or an ideology.
The Bush administration quietly stopped talking about a war on terror in 2006 but it is the first time that such a close and senior ally has so publicly turned its back on what was used as a rallying cry to western countries after the September 11 attacks.
Writing in the Guardian, Mr Miliband said the term "implied a belief that the correct response to the terrorist threat was primarily a military one: to track down and kill a hard-core of extremists".
Instead, democracies should counter violence by "championing the rule of law, not subordinating it, for it is the cornerstone of the democratic society. We must uphold our commitments to human rights and civil liberties at home and abroad."
He gave a pointed welcome to Mr Obama's pledge to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba.
The Foreign Secretary was repeating his message in a speech in Mumbai today, in one of the hotels attacked by terrorists in November.
India has blamed Pakistani militants backed by some official agencies in that country for the attacks - a claim that has been firmly rejected by Islamabad.
Pakistan is examining a dossier supplied by the Indian government but says it needs firm evidence.
Mr Miliband said: "I have said publicly that I do not believe that the attacks were directed by the Pakistani state and I think it's important to restate that. We are absolutely clear about the origin of the terrorist attack, and the responsibility that exists in Pakistan to bring the perpetrators to justice.
"What is relevant is the approach of the Pakistani state to the Laskhar-e-Taiba organisation and the way the Pakistani state takes on the menace of the LeT organisation."
Reader views (13)
Last year he was saying if you can not negotiate with a group to get them to do what you want and you can not force them to do what you want. Then its ok to kill them. Personaly the "War of Terror" that the US unleashed on the world just opened my eyes to how many countries the US has invaded over the last 60 Years and currently occupy.
- Michael, London UK, 15/01/2009 22:45
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Surely Miliband means " war OF terror " as practised by the Bush and Brown governments which have caused the murders of hundreds of thousands of innocents and which have changed nothing.
- Harry Lauder, Edinburgh, Scotland, 15/01/2009 19:00
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Of course it was a mistake. This is proving by its own admission that the government is incompent and stupid. It admits that it is and shouldn't have stood for election. Nor should it have lied to the people over it's points of view.
Lets throw them out. NOW!!!
- Nic Winsor, southampton, 15/01/2009 18:27
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Again the USA was the mistake?? Why can Milli not admit it was his Nu Labor who took us onto that path?! Blair just received a USA medal for it yesterday!! Milli was never abroad before he took this job and it shows.
- Georgie, Islington, London, 15/01/2009 12:31
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"We tackled terror the wrong way, says Miliband"- I wouldn't stop there, Mr Bland. Everything that NuLiebour have touched in the last 11 years has turned to stinky doo-doo.
The war on terror wasn't really a war on terror, it was a war for control of Iraq's oil.
- Keith Lonsdale, Doncaster, 15/01/2009 12:21
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ideological imposition isn't working, it's never worked and never will.
- Simon, Ox, UK, 15/01/2009 12:00
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I'm sure all the families of the dead and injured British service personnel who were sent to their deaths under the rallying cry of "the war on terror" will be pleased to know that Milliband and his NuLab cohorts are now calling this "a mistake". Big mistake I'd say, they sent thousands of soldiers into two hostile and bloody war zones and in the case of Iraq, based on a pack of lies and now they are turning around just as Bush exits the White House and saying the second reason for sending them there was a mistake! Beggars belief, funny how it is only now that NuLab is all of a sudden distancing itself from Bush and his idiotic policies and funny how Brown has got his "boy" to announce this after he himself as chancellor and then PM went along with it for all these years! All those lives lost and for what? So, Brown can cosy up to Obama and try to gain some credibility from the new incoming democrat president. This is pathetic and demeaning to all those who have given their lives in both these hellholes!
- Ed, Hants, 15/01/2009 11:45
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Thousands of people paid for this mistake with their lives.
- John Smith, London, UK, 15/01/2009 11:44
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Typicalreaction from a Labour politician chasing Muslim votes before an anticipated General Election in the UK,expected in the next 18 months.
- H Advani, London(UK), 15/01/2009 11:26
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Unfortunately it has taken him until now to admit he was wrong. Will Blair now face war crime charges?
- R.F.Yorks, Yorks, UK, 15/01/2009 11:15
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No no no, putting diesel in a petrol car is a "mistake"; forgetting your keys is a "mistake". Slaughtering a million innocents is genocidal mania - not a mistake. Do these people take us for fools?
- Neil, london uk,, 15/01/2009 10:53
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Milliband is absolutely right, but its a bit late in the day to be saying it. The fact is these 'terrorists' and 'Islamic fundamentalists', suicide bombers, are nothing more than murdering psychopaths and deserve a place in Broadmoor. They are not your 'normal' adjusted people. The whole farce on the War on terror is based on a myth.
- Dhanraj, Basildon Essex, 15/01/2009 10:36
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One of many mistakes you have made Mr Milliband, with no doubt many more on route to us. Let's not mention the bins fiasco.
- Roger, Surrey, 15/01/2009 10:35
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