The self-defeating War on Terror

I have written many times about why I think that the term "war on terror" is worse than useless -- that it distracts us from thinking clearly and acting correctly. I just read something by George Soros at HuffPo which nicely makes the argument that "The war on terror is a false metaphor that has led to counterproductive and self-defeating policies".

His four reasons that WOT is self-defeating are:
- the creation of so many innocent victims
- the conflation of all the political movements that use terrorist tactics
- the over-emphasis of military action at the expense of political, police and intelligence action
- the wedge driven between "us" and "them" as the victims become perpetrators

But I especially like his expression "It is not our will that is being tested, but our understanding of reality" which succinctly captures an essential element of the failed BushCo policies.