In today’s Washington Post, the major op-ed reaction to yesterday’s terrorist bombings in Bombay is offered by Xenia Dormandy of Harvard’s Kennedy School who until last August was director for South Asia on the National Security Council — presumably the Bush Administration’s NSC. What’s odd about the piece is already evident in the subtitle, “Pakistan Needs to Respond to Militants.” The term “militants” or “militant groups” appears four additional times in Dormandy’s column. What’s missing? Any use at all of the word “terror” or its cognates. Thus the Bombay bombings had nothing to do with terrorism, terrorists, or the global war on terror. For future reference, don’t confuse 7/11 with 3/11, 7/7, or 9/11.
