This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Monday, August 23rd, 2021.

I'm Caleb Brown.

The so-called War on Terror was, in a sense, doomed from the start.

Spencer Ackerman, author of the new book, Rain of Terror was in a sense doomed from the start.

Spencer Ackerman, author of the new book,

Rain of Terror, says the conceptual error

that launched the war on terror,

led to torture, corruption of American institutions,

trillions of wasted dollars, and of course, the presidency. of

American institutions, trillions of wasted dollars, and of course,

the presidency of Donald Trump.

We spoke Friday.

What do you identify as the original sin in the war on terror?

And I realize just saying the words war on terror

might identify that original sin but what do you what do you believe it to be?

The original sin of the war on terror is found in the name itself, both the element of it that says

war and the element of it that says terror. We are not talking about with the name War on Terror a

Conscribed distinct theme with an enemy clearly named. We are describing a very broad thing whose meaning gets fuzzier the more you poke at it,

where conceptually the United States commits itself to a kind of ever expanding violent campaign

against a metaphysical condition or a form of warfare that is ancient and demonstrates itself when conditions of overwhelming

asymmetry between combatants

manifests, although we're not really talking about that.

...