At war with an enemy of an unspoken name

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Tony Blankley, editorial page editor of The Washington Times, calls for a sweeping response to the threat of militant Islam in his book, "The West's Last Chance: Will We Win the Clash of Civilizations?" (Regnery Publishing).

Last of three parts

When President Bush declared war on terrorism, he did not, legally, put the country on a war footing.

Up until now, we have never accurately named the enemy or the danger. If the government can't speak the real name and nature of the enemy, it becomes impossible to explain, or even design, a policy for victory.

This is why Mr. Bush -- who has tried to talk around the problem of radical Islam -- has seemed (to his critics) foolish or deceitful, neither of which he is.

What we need is a clear congressional declaration of war, as prescribed by the Constitution. Congress should declare war on the Islamist jihadists.

Naming the formal enemy limits the focus of our war effort to the militant Islamists who have declared jihad against the West. There are many terrorist groups in the world. Many are no threat to the United States. The current danger is the Islamist one.