Tenth Crusade is a term of rhetoric that casts the US-led War on Terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq (in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks), as being a new chapter in the crusades— a long history of religiously justified attacks by rulers within Christendom upon Muslim-held areas (and later Christian minorities).

In the context of contemporary events, a number of scholars and commentators have drawn comparisons between the United States and past empires, such as the British Empire and the Roman Empire, while others have further declared that the ""war on terrorism") can or should be viewed in the context of history as the "new crusade." They claim that the current war has identical or comparable aspects to the Crusades of antiquity —a largely religious-based military campain of European culture against countries in the Middle-East of Islamic culture.

This view asserts that the United States is an inheritor of European culture, and its ties and allegiances to Europe are deeply cultural as well —hence any sociological and religious examinations of the current war may have (or does have) direct precedents in the historical articles.

Terms

US President George W. Bush used the phrase "this crusade, this war on terrorism" in a press conference on September 16, 2001, causing significant controversy especially in Europe and Arab countries. Bush later apologized and retracted his statement, choosing the term War on Terror.

In April 2002 Rahul Mahajan published The New Crusade:America's War on Terrorism [1], which drew deeper historical context of U.S and European policy in the War on Terror as well as the war on drugs, etc.

Counterpunch, web magazine columnist Alexander Cockburn authored an opinion column titled The Tenth Crusade (For the September 7, 2002 issue of) [2] in which he numbered the conflict to follow the nine medieval Crusades.

In a Newsday article issued December 4, 2003, political commentator James Pinkerton cited two intermediate wars also called "Tenth Crusade." Citing Napoleon's invasion of Egypt , Britain's control of Egypt and the British and French Mandates over former Ottoman territories granted France and Britain after World War One to have been the Ninth through Eleventh Crusades.

Pinkerton's renumbering of the conflict as the "Twelfth Crusade" has been overshadowed by references to the title of the Cockburn column. Cockburn is thus usually credited with coining the term, which is almost exclusively used by critics of the US operations. Most supporters of the US government's position claim the analogy is misleading and eschew its use.

Other usages

• Scholarly article published May 7, 2001, concerning the rise of English in Tunisia. English in Carthage; or, the "Tenth Crusade" Mongi Bahloul, University of Sfax for the South , Tunisia.
• Novel by Christopher Hyde . Tenth Crusade. 1983: Boston, MA. Houghton Mifflin. 270 pages.

Quotations

US President George W. Bush, from a press conference upon arrival at the South Lawn of the White House, September 16, 2001. 

"We need to go back to work tomorrow and we will. But we need to be alert to the fact that these evil-doers still exist. We haven't seen this kind of barbarism in a long period of time. No one could have conceivably imagined suicide bombers burrowing into our society and then emerging all in the same day to fly their aircraft — fly U.S. aircraft into buildings full of innocent people — and show no remorse. This is a new kind of — a new kind of evil. And we understand. And the American people are beginning to understand. This crusade, this war on terrorism is going to take a while. And the American people must be patient. I'm going to be patient. But I can assure the American people I am determined, I'm not going to be distracted, I will keep my focus to make sure that not only are these brought to justice, but anybody who's been associated will be brought to justice. Those who harbor terrorists will be brought to justice. It is time for us to win the first war of the 21st century decisively, so that our children and our grandchildren can live peacefully into the 21st century."

Alexander Cockburn, "The Tenth Crusade," Counterpunch, September 7, 2002. 

"Islamic fanatics flew those planes a year ago and here we are with a terrifying alliance of Judaeo-Christian fanatics, conjoined in their dreams of the recovery of the Holy Lands of the West Bank, Judaea and Samaria. War on Terror? It's back to the late thirteenth century, picking up where Prince Edward left off with his ninth crusade after St Louis had died in Tunis with the word Jerusalem on his lips."

James Pinkerton , "Century In, Century Out - It's Crusade Time," Newsday, December 4, 2003. 

"And now, in 2003, the Americans, the Twelfth Crusaders. The West is no longer 'Christendom,' but we, as first cousins to the Europeans, retain the old faith and bring new kinds of idealism, such as democracy and human rights. But the Crusader spirit is still there; it's still about bringing civilization and salvation of a backward people. As the born-again George W. Bush says, 'This is about good vs. evil.'"