try, try again

"War on Terror" (or WOT) doesn't work any more, evidently. Now we are going to have another slogan for whatever it is the administration is up to. The new slogan was unveiled as the GSAEFEC. This will ensure, says Karen Hughes, Islam and poverty expert, that we will soon have the deafening ring across the globe of single hands smacking the forehead in unison. THE GSAEFEC will require top graphic freedom designers to retool it in eye-catching modern packaging that suggests "I'm pro-freedom! Pro-civilization!", a video campaign, fruit advertising, and saucy accessories such as GSAEFEC beachbags and parasols.

Mr. Rumsfeld spoke in the new terms on Friday when he addressed an audience in Annapolis, Md., for the retirement ceremony of Adm. Vern Clark as chief of naval operations. Mr. Rumsfeld described America's efforts as it "wages the global struggle against the enemies of freedom, the enemies of civilization."

The shifting language is one of the most public changes in the administration's strategy to battle Al Qaeda and its affiliates, and it tracks closely with Mr. Bush's recent speeches emphasizing freedom, democracy and the worldwide clash of ideas.

"It is more than just a military war on terror," Steven J. Hadley, the national security adviser, said in a telephone interview. "It's broader than that. It's a global struggle against extremism. We need to dispute both the gloomy vision and offer a positive alternative."

The language shifts also come at a time when Mr. Bush, with a new appointment for one of his most trusted aides, Karen Hughes, is trying to bolster the State Department's efforts at public diplomacy.