“The locus classicus of the Bush administration’s beliefs about the War on Terror is the ‘National Security Strategy of the United States,’ a thirty-five page white paper issued by the White House in September [17] 2002. In florid rhetoric it depicts the United States as having entered a new era of epochal conflict, challenged again to ‘rid the world of evil’: ‘The United States of America is fighting a war against terrorists of global reach. The enemy is not a single political regime or person or religion or ideology. The enemy is terrorism–premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against innocents.’ The substantive nature, aims, and strategy of the enemy are not explained. The document simply advances a number of bald and supposedly self-evident claims. The terrorist enemy seeks to use weapons of mass destruction against the United States to cause ‘mass civilian casualties.’ The enemy cannot be deterred. It represents ‘chaos’ and opposes civilization.”
– Ian S. Lustick, Trapped in the War on Terror, Pages 123-124