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WASHINGTON - DO NOT call them jihadists any more. Also, do not call Al-Qaeda a movement.
The Bush administration has launched a new front in the campaign against terrorism, this time targeting language.
Federal agencies, including the State Department, the Homeland Security Department and the National Counterterrorism Centre, are telling their people not to describe Islamic extremists as 'jihadists' or 'mujahideen', according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
The reason: Such words may actually boost support for radicals among Arab and Muslim audiences by giving them a veneer of religious credibility or by causing offence to moderates.
For example, while Americans may understand 'jihad' to mean 'holy war', it is in fact a broader Islamic concept of the struggle to do good, says the guidance prepared for diplomats and other officials tasked with explaining the anti-terror campaign to the public.
Similarly, 'mujahideen', which means those engaged in jihad, must be seen in its broader context.
US officials may be 'unintentionally portraying terrorists, who lack moral and religious legitimacy, as brave fighters, legitimate soldiers or spokesmen for ordinary Muslims', according to a Homeland Security report entitled Terminology To Define The Terrorists: Recommendations From American Muslims.
'Regarding 'jihad', even if it is accurate to reference the term, it may not be strategic because it glamourises terrorism, imbues terrorists with religious authority they do not have and damages relations with Muslims around the world,' the report says.
Language is critical in fighting terror, says another document, an internal 'official use only' memorandum circulating in Washington and entitled Words That Work And Words That Don't: A Guide For Counterterrorism Communication.
The memo, originally prepared in March by the Extremist Messaging Branch of the National Counterterrorism Centre, was approved for diplomatic use this week by the State Department, which plans to distribute a version to all US embassies, officials said.
'It's not what you say, but what they hear,' the memo says in bold italic lettering, listing 14 points about how better to present the anti-terror campaign.
'Don't take the bait,' it says, urging officials not to react when Osama bin Laden or Al-Qaeda affiliates speak. 'We should offer only minimal, if any, response to their messages. When we respond loudly, we raise their prestige in the Muslim world.'
The memo says the advice does not apply to official policy papers but should be used as a guide for conversations with Muslims and media.
At least at the top level, it appears to have made an impact.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who once frequently referred to 'jihad' in her public remarks, does not appear to have used the word since last September, except when talking about the name of a specific terror group.
The memo mirrors advice distributed to British and European Union diplomats last year to explain the anti-terror actions better to Muslim communities there.
It also draws heavily on a Homeland Security report that examined the way American Muslims reacted to different phrases used by US officials to describe terrorists and recommended ways to improve the message.
The report counselled 'caution in using terms such as 'jihadist', 'Islamic terrorist', 'Islamist' and 'holy warrior' as grandiose descriptions'.
'We should not concede the terrorists' claim that they are legitimate adherents of Islam,' it said, adding that Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his adherents fear 'irrelevance' more than anything else.
'We must carefully avoid giving bin Laden and other Al-Qaeda leaders the legitimacy they crave, but do not possess, by characterising them as religious figures or in terms that may make them seem to be noble in the eyes of some,' it advised.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
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