Yes, but is that because it is such a common idiom in English, or because it is inextricably linked to the terror war framing?

I think the former. The phrase is used roughly 18.5 percent of the time in connection with terrorism based on a Google search.

According to teh Google, there are about 49,700,000 uses of the phrase. 9,200,000 uses of the phrase in connection with the word 'terrorism'. Compared to 16,000,000 uses of the phrase in connection with the word 'crime' or  21,600,000 uses of the phrase in connection with the word 'parent'.