Posted on: Wednesday, September 19, 2001

Editorial
In this struggle, words will matter

As the country prepares for its unprecedented response to terrorism, it is instructive that there has been almost as much attention paid to words as to deeds.

Words matter. You can see the caution on the faces of Washington officials as they are asked to comment or provide information to news reporters.

Words matter.

Take, for instance, the interesting comments by French President Jacques Chirac yesterday during a meeting with President Bush.

Chirac said he would prefer to stay away from Bush's characterization of this battle against terrorism as a "war."

"I don't know whether we should use the word 'war,' " Chirac said, "but what I can say is now we are faced with a conflict of a completely new nature."

These are not idle distinctions. War as we know it may be inadequate to describe the subtle, drawn-out struggle against terrorism we now face.

For his part, Bush moved away from "war" and began using the word "campaign," — not a bad choice. It's surely better than the term "crusade" which the President used earlier in the week.

At some levels, both crusade and campaign have roughly the same meaning. But as Bush quickly learned, crusade also evokes direct memories of Christian battle against Muslim forces. Considering how careful he has been to insist that our fight is not with Muslims, or the followers of Islam in general, it was somewhat astounding that the President used this particular term.

The term was used innocently and inadvertently, not deliberately, Bush's spokesman said yesterday. Good.

And at the same time that Americans are beginning to learn that "crusade" has more than one meaning, so too are we learning about the Islamic word "jihad." While we have come to associate the word with an unrelenting holy war, it has a larger meaning: a struggle, particularly a personal struggle for spiritual self-perfection.

For instance, a jihad of the hands can suggest a struggle to become more perfectly in service to the needs of others.

Understanding words and what they mean to others is the first step toward greater acceptance of our differences. As we go forward in this terrible struggle, we must all be careful with the words we use and the way we treat the words of others.