The War on Terror (WOT), also
known as the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is a slogan applied to the
international military campaign that started after the 11 September 2001
terrorist attacks on the United States. The campaign led to an international
campaign to eliminate al-Qaeda and other militant organizations. The United
States and many other NATO and non-NATO nations participated in the campaign.
The phrase "War on Terror" was first used by U.S. President George W. Bush on 20
September 2001. The Bush administration and the western media have since used
the term to argue a global military, political, legal, and conceptual struggle
against both organizations designated terrorist and establishments accused of
supporting them. It was originally used with a particular focus on Muslim
countries associated with Islamic terrorism organizations including al-Qaeda and
like-minded organizations. Although the term War on Terror is no longer
officially used by the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama (which
prefers the term Overseas Contingency Operation), it is still commonly used by
politicians, the media and in some official governmental aspects, including the
US military's Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.
“A compact and cogent study.” Goldstein makes a fine example of a nonideologue
at work. Goldstein does an admirable job in breaking down current war costs and
who we pay them. Goldstein is not an economist but a political scientist who
takes an interdisciplinary approach to the study of war. He wrote many books and
does a lot of work on war on terrorism. The situation that Pakistan is facing
today, he explains similar situation in his work. He argues that the war on
terrorism is much more expensive than we have been told and that we must spend
now to win it quickly or we will pay far more in the future to do so. Forget the
astronomical numbers you read about in the press --- $120 billion here, $87
billion there. Here's how much the war is costing you personally. Goldstein,
political scientist and "scholar of war" creates a crude but credible model for
determining the cost of war per household in the United States.
Goldstein's argument is simple, powerfully argued, and persuasive: we have not
spent enough to win the war on terror, and we cannot afford not to. For those
who say we are already spending too much, he marshals an impressive range of
historical evidence to prove that we are spending much less than we have on past
wars. For those who say the status quo threat level is acceptable, he presents
frightening scenarios to prove that it is not. The conclusions he draws are as
convincing as they are dire. Joshua Goldstein has always written about big
topics, and this is the biggest: If the war against terrorism is to be won-and
it must be won-what will be the likely costs and how should they be allocated
among the American people? He writes with passion, insight, evidence, and
fundamental fairness on an issue that will shape all our lives.