Another Scathing and Compelling Piece by Christopher Hitchens
His subtitle:
His bottom line:
In my ears, "insurgent" is a bit like "rebel" or even "revolutionary." There's nothing axiomatically pejorative about it, and some passages of history have made it a term of honor. At a minimum, though, it must mean "rising up." These fascists and hirelings are not rising up, they are stamping back down. It's time for respectable outlets to drop the word, to call things by their right names (Baathist or Bin Ladenist or jihadist would all do in this case), and to stop inventing mysteries where none exist.You are respectfully urged to read the whole thing.
(Thanks to Honorary Hedgehog and occasional guest blogger Ralph Kostant for the tip.)
posted by Lowell Brown at 1:37 PM
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1 Comments:
Well worth reading the whole thing. The use of "insurgent" is only one problem, and a relatively minor albeit telling one at that, with mainstream U.S. reporting on Iraq. Unfortunately, the White House and Pentagon seem completely unable or unwilling to use the bully pulpit to even attempt to reframe the debate--seemingly content always to be on the defensive, despite the devastating effect this posture (or lack of one) is having on the public support for this important effort.
Posted by BlueBuffoon
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