No More 'Global War'

In a break with the Bush administration, an aide to President Obama said in a speech today that the U.S. would no longer refer to a "global war" on terror, which he said suggested a fight with the rest of the world and inflated al Qaeda's reach. More than a symbolic shift, however, the speech by John Brennan, Obama’s assistant for counterterrorism and homeland security, laid out a detailed new strategy for addressing the root causes of terrorism, which he said include poverty and lack of education. "We cannot shoot ourselves out of this challenge," Brennan said. "If we fail to confront the broader political, economic, and social conditions in which extremists thrive, then there will always be another recruit in the pipeline, another attack coming downstream." Brennan had harsh words for former President Bush, saying that the CIA's use of torture techniques would be "a recruitment bonanza for terrorists, increase the determination of our enemies, and decrease the willingness of other nations to cooperate with us."