Britain stops talk of 'war on terror'

British cabinet ministers have been told by the UK Foreign Office to drop the phrase "war on terror" and other terms seen as liable to anger British Muslims and increase tensions more broadly in the Islamic world. The shift marks a turning point in British political thinking about the strategy against extremism and underlines the growing gulf between the British and US approaches to the continuing problem of radical Islamic militancy. "It's about time," said Garry Hindle, terrorism expert at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London. "Military terminology is completely counter-productive, merely contributing to isolating communities. This is a very positive move." A Foreign Office spokesperson said the government wanted to "avoid reinforcing and giving succor to the terrorists' narrative by using language that, taken out of context, could be counterproductive." The same message has been sent to British diplomats and official spokespeople around the world. "We tend to emphasize upholding shared values as a means to counter terrorists," he added. Many senior British politicians and counter-terrorism specialists have always been uneasy with the term 'the war on terror," coined by the White House in the week following the Sept. 11 attacks, arguing that the term risked inflaming opinions worldwide. Other critics said that it was too "military" and did not adequately describe the nature of the diverse efforts made to counter the new threat. British officials believe that militants use a sense of war and crisis and a "clash of civilizations" to recruit supporters, and thus the use of terms such as "war," "war on terror" or "battle" can be counter-productive. Not all British government figures are abiding by the advice, issued by the Foreign Office's Engaging with the Islamic World Unit. Writing in the Sun recently, Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, referred to "our police and armed forces in the front line of the war on terror." "One of the problems will be getting all parts of government to abide [by the new guidelines]," said Hindle, the RUSI expert. "Whether the Home Office will want to follow remains to be seen. And politicians all have their own agendas."