Religious Fundamentalism in Orwell and Pynchon

[Michael Joseph]

Oh, Ari, sweetie, "a broad cause?" Time to look in the dictionary.
According to the OED the first/oldest def. of crusade is . . .

1. Hist. A military expedition undertaken by the Christians of Europe in
the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries to recover the Holy Land from the
Muslims.

  {alpha} 1577 HARRISON England III. iv. (1878) II. 29 At such time as
Baldwine archbishop of Canturburie preached the Croisad there. 1616 JAS.
I. Remonstr. Right of Kings Wks. 445 All such..as undertooke the Croisade
became the Pope's meere vassals. 1753 CHESTERFIELD Lett. (1774) IV. 6 His
history of the Croisades. 1769 BLACKSTONE Comm. IV. 416 The knight
errantry of a croisade against the Saracens. >
> Q Does he regret having used that word, Ari, and will he not use it again in
> the context of talking about this effort?
>
> MR. FLEISCHER: I think to the degree that that word has any connotations
> that would upset any of our partners, or anybody else in the world, the
> President would regret if anything like that was conveyed. But the purpose
> of his conveying it is in the traditional English sense of the word. It's a
> broad cause.


"Broad cause?"

Michael