Is total war as used in ww1 and ww2 not being used in the war on terrorism because of political correctness?

total war in this situation wouldn't be very effective, and would actually backfire in the war on terrorism. the reason total war worked in past wars was because we broke the morale of our enemies. in these wars, we're trying to win the hearts and minds of the civilians. it would be very hard to do that if we kept attacking them. remember, total war means you attack your enemies' military, and destroy the morale of the civilians.