Winning (or losing) the war on terror.

[MGKrebs]

I have trouble understanding what "winning the war on terror" means. How would we know we won? What expectations do people who use that phrase have?

I thought it might help to consider the concept of "losing" the war on terror, but I can't figure out what that would mean either. Is there just some undefined level of "terror attacks" that are unacceptable, and therefore would constitute a "loss"?

"It doesn't matter if you can win a war 20 years from now if we lose the global war on terror next year," said one military official"
http://tinyurl.com/5gxpj

What does this guy mean? What circumstances would cause him to say next year, "Well, Bob, looks like we lost the war on terror".

edited for clarity (I hope)

[aquart]

1. Being incredibly generous and caring in this crisis

Could take the air out of many terrorist recruiting drives.

I just mention it.

[RC]

2. In that case the bu$h administration won't do all that much

and they will screw that up.