President Barack Obama’s administration denied Wednesday dropping the punchy but controversial phrase “global war on terror” for the less snappy formulation “overseas contingency operation.”
There is no administration-wide edict from the White House Office of Management and Budget mandating the name change, as claimed in a Washington Post report, officials said.
“I sometimes am amused by things that I read in the press. I am not aware of any communication that I’ve had on that topic,” OMB director Peter Orszag told reporters.
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According to the newspaper, the OMB had directed the Pentagon to drop the name coined by president George W. Bush for his battle against extremism after the September 11 attacks of 2001.
For critics, the phrase “global war on terror” was emblematic of an approach that was dangerously broad-brushed and which risked alienating the Islamic world.
Its formal omission would be consistent with the Obama administration’s reversal of key Bush policies, including ending the war in Iraq and shutting down the Guantanamo Bay prison camp.