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The British Way of Warfare and the Global War on Terror

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Abstract

The Global War on Terror is a poor and misleading choice of words. Notwithstanding the gradual drift towards the term “the long war,” which is slightly more enlightening,1 it remains the description of choice for America’s counterpunch to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon in 2001. To date, two nations (one of which—Iraq—had no involvement in 9/11) have been assaulted by the United States and its coalition partners with the subsequent occupations of these lands by Western military forces. It is estimated in Iraq alone (not forgetting the almost 3000 casualties on 9/11)2 that around 600,000 people may have lost their lives and continue to do so on a daily basis,3 as a consequence of this military intervention and the emergence of the insurgency. In terms of cold analysis, the Global War on Terror appears to be an extraordinarily disproportionate counterterrorism response.

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Samy Cohen

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© 2008 Samy Cohen

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Finlan, A. (2008). The British Way of Warfare and the Global War on Terror. In: Cohen, S. (eds) Democracies at War against Terrorism. The Sciences Po Series in International Relations and Political Economy. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230614727_7

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