War on Terrorism

We have a lot of problems in this day and age and the one which seems to be toward the top in the U.S. is generally referred to as a "war on terrorism". Both of our presidential candidates want us to conclude they could best execute this war. It has recently occurred to me that this is an unfortunate and calculated misnomer. Terrorism is not an object but is in fact a tactic. We do not have a war on this tactic. For example, the separatist in Spain (the ETA) practice terrorism and we are in no way at war with them. Other groups with specific non-U.S targets could be mentioned. The U.S. may not be in favor of these activities, but we are not at war against these terrorists. We are at war with radical Islamists who target the U.S. and its citizens. All of these are Muslims and our politicians are loathe to admit that. Political correctness run amok, I feel. It seems to me that if we had a more honest daily admission that we were at war with radical Muslims, the moderate Muslims might express more outrage toward the activities of their murderous bretheren. I think it is necessary to correctly identify your enemy if you are at war.