Phil Carter nails it in this piece on his indispensible blog.

This "inherency" doctrine has been sliding around as a ooze-covered meme for a while in D.C., starting with the ability to conduct a war on terror. Not a War, like with a declaration or even a target. Just this generality.

Terror is barely a noun, let alone a target. It's the idiocy of using a war metaphor carried to the nth degree. It's a war; you don't need a war metaphor.

One of these days, we'll declare war on al-Qaeda or even war on bin Laden. I'll be behind that. Give me the slightest reason for a war on al-Saud and I'll back that. Right now, I'll take the metaphor and declare war on our Chimp King George; our weapon is the vote.