This is a conversation I have with liberal friends all the time who talk about how Bush's war on terrorism is just fear mongering. The root of fear is the inability to deal with the problem or situation. In the case of what we are doing, we are not playing the fear card, just the opposite, instead of being afraid, we are fighting. The ones who are really playing on fear are the ones creating a bogeyman out of President Bush and other PTBs as having some sinister conspiracy. Those are playing on people's fears of a situation that is out of their control, but affects them.
Until the southern border is closed with Hammer of God military force backing up that closure, it can easily be construed as fear-mongering by the President's enemies. You don't take your guns to the ghetto to stop your house from being burglarized and leave the garage door wide-open while you are gone.
It isn't the war itself. It's nonsense like, "if you smoke marijuana you support the terrorists", or the people who use tragedies like VA Tech to convince citizens that gun grabbing is AOK. Politiciaans fear-monger. It's human nature.