Excerpt:
In the Analects of Confucius (Book 13, Verse 3), the ancient Chinese philosopher wrote that one of the first and most important duties of a government official was to perform a "rectification of names," for "if names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things. If language be not in accordance with the truth of things, affairs cannot be carried on to success."
The latest demonstration of the ongoing foreign-policy fecklessness of the Obama administration was the reported recent statement by a senior official that "the War on Terror is over." He (or she) has been roundly castigated by many who point out that if the war is over, why are 90,000 troops still fighting (and dying) overseas?
But the administration and its critics are both wrong.