One of the biggest questions about the “war on terror” is whether real vigilance and necessary action will become an excuse for government intrusion into our lives, the erosion of our civil liberties and the maiming of our sons and daughters.

There is a real risk that the conflict will essentially become the Orwellian war without end.

That’s not just my opinion. It is also the view of Jeh Johnson, the general counsel for the Department of Defense, who gave an eloquent speech at Oxford University on Friday that concluded with a powerful statement on that very issue.

“’War’ must be regarded as a finite, extraordinary and unnatural state of affairs,” Mr. Johnson said. “War permits one man – if he is a ‘privileged belligerent,’ consistent with the laws of war – to kill another. War violates the natural order of things, in which children bury their parents; in war parents bury their children.”

Mr. Johnson (who is a good friend of mine) continued: “For now, we must continue our efforts to disrupt, dismantle and ensure a lasting defeat of Al Qaeda.”



He also said that the fight against the terrorist network that attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, was a real one, although Al Qaeda is now “more decentralized and most terrorist activity now conducted by local franchises” like those in Yemen and Africa.

To Mr. Johnson, this war legally and morally justifies military detention without a criminal conviction and sentence. I find that a trickier issue, and a more slippery slope, but he made a strong argument for his position. He pointed out that the Obama administration has ended torture while still gathering intelligence “in a manner consistent with our Army Field Manual, the Detainee Treatment Act and international law.” Mr. Johnson said the administration improved the military commissions at Guantanamo Bay.

I remain convinced those tribunals should never have existed in the first place, but, importantly,Mr. Johnson said clearly that any authority the United States has to impose military detention and trial on prisoners ends with the war. And yes, the war must end.

At some point, he said, when Al Qaeda has been broken enough, “we must be able to say to ourselves that our efforts should no longer be considered an ‘armed conflict’ against Al Qaeda and its associated forces; rather, a counterterrorism effort against individuals who are the scattered remnants of Al Qaeda, or are parts of groups unaffiliated with Al Qaeda, for which the law enforcement and intelligence resources of our government are principally responsible.”

It’s important to note that there are many people – sadly, many of them Republicans – who would not agree with this. They believe that a “military approach” to terrorism is always the right one and that to argue otherwise shows weakness. But this is a foolish and dangerous approach that has created what amounts to an inferior justice system almost entirely designed for Muslims.

Perhaps Mr. Johnson put it best when he said, “In its 12th year, we must not accept the current conflict, and all that it entails, as the ‘new normal.’ Peace must be regarded as the norm toward which the human race continually strives.”