Security & Strategic Review - September 2005

Two recent developments related to the war in Colombia have highlighted the extent to which words have become weapons: the diplomatic spat over an Ecuadorean minister's assertion that his government does not consider the Farc guerrillas to be 'terrorists', and President Alvaro Uribe's decision to reverse an earlier stance and recognise what is happening in his country as a 'conflict'. In both cases, the choice of terms has consequences.