Miliband’s argument is bananas

One of the great mysteries of British politics is why David Miliband has a reputation for being a deep-thinker. Far from being a bold new agenda for British foreign policy, his piece in today’s Guardian, which Pete reviewed earlier, is, as Melanie argues, embarrassingly shallow.

First, it is hardly ground-breaking to observe that ‘war on terror’ is an inadequate and misleading phrase. Back in August 2004, President Bush conceded this point: 

“We actually misnamed the war on terror; it ought to be the struggle against ideological extremists who do not believe in free societies, who happen to use terror as a weapon to try to shake the conscience of the free world.”

Second, Miliband is setting up a straw man when he says that supporters of the military action in Gaza think that Israel can ‘kill its way out of the problems’ it faces.