A headline is sometimes worth a thousand words, and this was definitely the case after a deadly drone strike occurred in Yemen last week.
“Drone Strike Kills Six Suspected Militants in Yemen,” a Reuters headline (8/7/13) declared. “More Suspected Al-Qaeda Militants Killed as Drone Strikes Intensify in Yemen,” a CNN.com headline (8/8/13) offered. Whatever the language, one message was clear: “Suspected terrorists” or “militants” had been killed.
But with several drone strikes over the past week in Yemen, how can anyone actually know who is being killed?
The deceptive way the Obama administration defines “militants” has already been well-established–as the New York Times (5/29/12) put it, the White House policy “in effect counts all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants.”
But awareness of this kind of doublespeak has not deterred reporters from using the term to describe drone casualties. Media generally refer to the victims as “militants” (Salon, 5/29/12)–which essentially allows the government to define the victims of its attacks.
In many cases, though, it is unclear exactly who has been killed. Reporters often rely on government officials to characterize the victims, which is reckless; not only does the U.S. government have a deceptive definition of “militant,” but the government of Yemen has been known to claim that civilians killed in U.S. drone strikes were actually combatants, as the Washington Post (12/24/12) reported.
In contrast to corporate media’s acceptance of a self-serving official line, an independent outlet like Democracy Now! reported in one recent segment (8/7/13) that “officials said the dead were Al-Qaeda suspects, but witnesses who arrived at the scene found only charred bodies and the wreckage of two vehicles.”
Corporate media too often serve to legitimize U.S. military actions instead of scrutinizing them. Much of the recent coverage portrayed the attacks as serving the greater purpose of foiling an Al-Qaeda plot: “An American drone delivers a deadly message to Al-Qaeda,” as CBS Evening News (8/7/13) put it .
The tendency to let government officials determine who is killed in drone strikes only underscores the lack of interest when others try to put faces to collateral damage. When Yemeni journalist Farea al-Muslimi testified before Congress about the suffering that drones had inflicted upon people in his country, it was not even considered newsworthy to mainstream media (FAIR Blog, 4/24/13).
(Rebecca Hellmich is a FAIR intern.)
What do you expect the media to call them? “People”?
One of the problems with Doublespeak is not that someone is aware of it. If one reads 1984 correctly, doublespeak in fact required that you be aware of it, and then yet not be aware of it. You must hold the contradictory thoughts together in your mind and be aware they are contradictory, and then in the next instant totally forget they are such. So the media is not simply aware of double speak and double think, they actively participate and practice it.
What would one expect from the Mini-Trues. Given time we won’t even hear the phrase Suspected Terrorists, it will Spectorists.
Of course, there’s a distinction to be made between “terrorists” and “militants”
But it serves the purposes of the imperium to conflate the two, and paint all who oppose invasion and occupation with the same bloody brush, does it not?
And your evidence supporting your suggestion that the government and its media friends are lying to us about “mililitants” rather than “civilians” being killed is???
And your evidence supporting your suggestion that the government and its media friends are lying to us about “mililitants” rather than “civilians” being killed is???
What part of redefining the word “Militant” don’t you understand?
U.S. Labels ALL Young Men In Battle Zones As “Militants” … And …
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/06/u-s-labels-all-young-me...
Jun 1, 2012 … I’ve written and said many times before that in American media discourse, the definition of “militant” is any human being whose life is …
“Militants”: media propaganda – Salon.com
http://www.salon.com/2012/05/29/militants_media_propaganda/
May 29, 2012 … I’ve written and said many times before that in American media discourse, the definition of “militant” is any human being whose life is …
Report: Obama Redefines ‘Militant’ to Avoid Counting Civilian Drone …
news.yahoo.com/report-obama-redefines-militant-avoid-co…
May 30, 2012 … Report: Obama Redefines ‘Militant’ to Avoid Counting Civilian Drone Deaths … by U.S. unmanned aerial drone strikes in which the definition of …
Jake Tapper Presses Jay Carney On Obama’s Expansive Definition Of
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/30/jake-tapper-jay-carne...
May 30, 2012… definition of who counts as a “militant” in the drone strikes he orders. … the U.S. government from killing innocent civilians with drone strikes.
Obama Re-Defines “Militant” and the Media Eats It Up | Common …
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/05/29-7
May 29, 2012 … I’ve written and said many times before that in American media discourse, the definition of “militant” is any human being whose life is …
US Labels ALL Young Men In Battle Zones As “Militants” – Zero Hedge
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2012-05-31/us-labels-all-...
May 31, 2012 … And American Soil Is Now Considered a Battle Zone … I’ve written and said many times before that in American media discourse, the definition of “militant” …. If you live in Yemen and oppose the government you are a militant.
Flawed Analysis of Drone Strike Data Is Misleading Americans …
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/07/flawed-ana...
Jul 18, 2012 … Eight days ago, I emailed Clara Hogan, a press liaison at New America, asking about its working definition of militant, but received no answer.
Militants – Daily Kos
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/29/1095594/-WOW-to-avoid...
May 29, 2012 … Re-defining “Militant” to mean anyone who is male and of age that might ….. the governments of Afghanistan, Yemen and Pakistan support US …
Bob Walton
*And your evidence supporting your suggestion that the government and its media friends are lying to us about “mililitants” rather than “civilians” being killed is??*
the onus is on the murikkan regime to prove that they r actually killing
terrorists.
but they wont.
do u support extra judicial execution per chance ?
The vernacular of “body counts” of Vietnam are being resurrected again.
I’m waiting for the day the local police forces solve crime using drones.
“NYPD Drone Strike Kills 5 Suspected Burglars”
Totally understand this argument.I would say it this way.A target was acquired in our war against terrorism.The subsequent attack killed the target ,and several people with him.That would in most cases probably be a true assumption.If Obama had taken out OBL with a missile strike I would guess there would of been woman and children killed.Part of these cowards human shields who are no shield at all.They carry a caravan of innocent people with them into the war zone they have created for their own “pleasure” ,and these people die.They know a price is on their head.Anyone who they stand near,or who stands with them could be killed in a collateral way.If Hitler would of been bombed -Im sure Eva brown and sundry others would of died.Sad truth to war and nothing new accept that the collateral damage is far less with new weapons.In WW2 mass bombings to attack infrastructure killed millions.100 thousand in one night..Yes no bomb is perfect.And once it is gone people die.Innocent ,guilty,and everything in between.
And Our POSTERITY!