Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Linh]

I have two questions:

1. what is a "floor speech"?

2. Is the "war on terror" (used by the Bush and his administration) a metaphor? If yes, could you explain it to me?

Thank you in advance.

[CP]

1. A speech on the floor of one of the houses of Congress. A speech to the assembled legislators, attempting to get others to agree on some position or piece of legislation.

2. George Bush, the president of the U.S.A., is not known for his expertise in English -- just the opposite. So this takes a little explaining.

The notion of a war on something -- war on drugs, war on poverty, war on illiteracy -- goes back decades in U.S. politics. Most often the war is metaphorical, as you say, usually referring to programs and policies aimed at getting rid of some undesirable condition or behavior.

In this case, it is a so-called war on terrorism -- not terror, terrorism -- that Mr. Bush means, although he can't seem to get that straight.

The hijacking of four airplanes to be used as flying bombs inside the borders of the U.S. on September 11, 2001, which took more than 3,000 innocent lives and destroyed both towers of the World Trade Center and part of the Pentagon (the main headquarters of the U.S. military establishment), was an outrageous act of international terrorism that galvanized the American people to respond.

Mr. Bush's idea was to send people after the mastermind of the terrorism, Osama Bin Laden and start a war against Iraq based upon false information that indicated the presence of mass weapons in Iraq and supposedly linking Iraq to Bin Laden. The first idea was good, but somehow nothing seems to be happening on that front. The second idea was incredibly bad, but having made the decision, Mr. Bush will never change his mind, it seems. He is going to stay the course, although it is not at all clear what the course is.

With characteristic imagination, Bush borrowed the "war on X" rubric to claim that he was in charge of a war on terrorism, but calling it his war on terror. It is an excuse to continue the war in Iraq years after it was proven that there were no weapons of mass destruction and that Iraq had repeatedly rebuffed Bin Laden for years; to strip American citizens at home of their First Amendment rights; to visit torture and imprisonment without due process of law on anyone; and so on and on.

Eliminating terrorism is certainly a good idea and a worthy cause. But the "war on terror," as used and implemented by Bush and his administration, is something entirely different.

Who wants the soapbox next?
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[asterix]

All wars are expensive and often do not achieve the desired result.
The war on drugs, like the war on alcohol, is a dismal and expensive failure.
In modern war you will die like a dog for no good reason... Ernest Hemingway.

[lotus]

Yoda had it right.

--lotus
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War does not make one great --Yoda

[Linh]

Thanks a lot!