The War on Terror Isn't a War

In an article in the History News Network, Joyce Appleby and Gary Hart make an important point about the Presidential powers George Bush is claiming to have because we are at "war." We need to challenge the framing of Bush's language. We are not fighting a "war" on terror. There is no institutional adversary like Nazi Germany that can be defeated, with a peace treaty signed to signal the end of the war. There is no foreseeable end to this conflict. And whatever the merits of other Presidents trampling on civil rights in the name of fighting past wars, the wars had a clear beginning and end point. The real danger here is that this President is claiming dubious powers as a "war President" that are challenging the constitutional system of checks and balances, and there is no end in sight. And while it is unlikely we will elect another President anytime soon who cares so little about protecting civil rights, human rights, and the Constitution, the powers he is claiming need to be curbed now before it is too late. An excerpt from the article:

George W. Bush and his most trusted advisers, Richard B. Cheney and Donald H. Rumsfeld, entered office determined to restore the authority of the presidency. Five years and many decisions later, they've pushed the expansion of presidential power so far that we now confront a constitutional crisis.

Relying on legal opinions from Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and Professor John Yoo, then working in the White House, Bush has insisted that there can be no limits to the power of the commander-in-chief in time of war. More recently the president has claimed that laws relating to domestic spying and the torture of detainees do not apply to him. His interpretation has produced a devilish conundrum.

President Bush has given Commander-in-Chief Bush unlimited wartime authority. But the "war on terror" is more a metaphor than a fact. Terrorism is a method, not an ideology; terrorists are criminals, not warriors. No peace treaty can possibly bring an end to the fight against far-flung terrorists. The emergency powers of the president during this "war" can now extend indefinitely, at the pleasure of the president and at great threat to the liberties and rights guaranteed us under the Constitution....