Terrorism and Friends

So, I've often been bothered by the wording of the phrase, "war on terrorism."

I very honestly just do not understand this. It seems plain to me that terrorism, an act of aggression from an illegal entity, is about as easy to have "war" on as smoke. Now, it's often been said that this so called war is actually creating terrorism, not stopping it. Another common complaint is that if people are upset or annoyed, then they are more likely to blow themselves up in some name of terror. This is all pretty common knowledge, and I wouldn't mention it except that I think I noticed an interesting way of looking at it. I heard a wonderful song by Glen Philips on my drive the other day, (thank you iPod). The track is called Gather (or else, lay down your arms) anyway, I first heard this at the Toad reunion tour in Bogarts. Awesome show, besides the point. The lyrics are: "Lay down your arms, gather your friends."

So profound when taken from the perhaps individualistic perspective that Glen gives it (methinks) and offered as the "friends of nations." Perhaps if the US would lay down its arms (the nuclear stockpiles, m16s, you name it) and we might be able to gather some friends.

That being said, I wonder what "friends" the United States has made since WW2? Any ideas?