Intramuscular versus intravenous administration of benzathine penicillin.

To the Editor—As a reader of Clinical Infectious Diseases living and working in Vietnam, I was naturally drawn to the article by Murray et al. [1] about infections during the Vietnam-America conflict. I was, however, disappointed to see the expression “the global war on terrorism” appear twice in the article. “The global war on terrorism” is a doctrinal slogan that may be popular in the United States but is probably less so elsewhere. It is a statement of policy and beliefs, not merely an operational label, and it can be criticized on many operational, semantic, and ideological grounds. It is often hard to see the values hidden within words, especially when they are our own values. It is important to be mindful of this when reporting on an issue as sensitive as war in a scientific journal with an international readership.