WAR BY EUPHEMISM

THE “WAR ON TERRORISM”
Terrorism: The Ultimate Euphemism?

Within minutes after the attack on 9/11 the term terrorism surfaced. It was probably crafted by Rove, since he was reported to have called the 911attack “This Great Opportunity,” or words to that effect.

Terrorism became the new word. Bush used it dozens of times in every uttering, (and still does, almost 7 years later) and used its other forms, terrorist and terrorists even more. “We have to fight terrorism wherever it occurs.” “We have to hunt down and kill the terrorists” … “Terrorists are planning new crimes against us as we speak” … and my favorite: “Win the war on terrorism.” The American Press, as we have witnessed, obediently picked up the word and uttered it as often as possible, in its 24/7 reporting.

Just think: “War on Terrorism.” With these three words – this concept - you have the PERFECT artifice, if your goal is to keep the country in a perpetual state of weapons production, with their platinum price tags; if you own the factors of production, and (my favorite) when the country’s in a “state of war” all laws and regulations that would otherwise restrict your activities are relaxed. As President, you can ask for, and get, the most outrageous of demands, whether it be more money, or outrageous laws, or the elimination of laws, such as Habeas Corpus. No problem. The Congress will give it to you, if the country is “At War.”
This ploy lets them enrich themselves beyond imagination, building weapons without a recognized opponent. The concept of At War implies, to the most simple minded, fighting it out with a recognized opponent.

And notice how strategic their thinking is: in a “war on terrorism” you’re always on defense. So there’s no chance the war will end. Cool, huh?

THUS: the Republican three-word Monte has achieved the following:

building multi-million dollar weapons to fight Arabs in caves
building more attack submarines when the enemy has no submarines to attack
building airplanes at a half-million bucks apiece, to fight the cave guys
extracting almost a million bucks a minute for skirmishes in the streets
relaxing any and all laws that might restrict their movements
guaranteeing re-election (in the beginning) by voting FOR it
etc. ad infinitum

The price tag to the people for this utter pretense?

In America, your standard “War on Terrorism” will run you about $4.17 million an hour. Sound about right? Sound like something you can afford? And I can get you a new one in Iran for just a little more, and you can use this one as your trade-in. How about it?

The Press will report it, in their best euphemistic terms, as 3 Billion a month, (notice they don’t use the word “dollars”) but that’s actually another euphemism. Let’s say it as it REALLY is:

That’s $3,000 million a month. Or $100 million a day.
Or a little over $4 million an hour. That’s dollars.

Just imagine the repair to America’s aging infrastructure that would buy. Or the great doctor care it would provide for the poor. Or the number of computers and computer instructors it would buy, so our young people could start to compete with the rest of the world. Footnote to this cost: don’t believe for one second that this figure is accurate. The real figure is probably twice that.

What exactly IS the “War on Terrorism?” To posit the idea that these few Arabs who are so agitated about so many things have a world organization, with the funds needed to fund such an enterprise, stretches the imagination of even the most gullible. DOESN’T IT?

If Osama bin Laden is the son of a billionaire contractor, he therefore has his share of his father’s wealth, but let’s remember, Osama has several brothers and sisters, for God’s sake! That reduces his “share” enormously. So let’s say he’s worth a billion – probably much less. That’s about a week of activity, or less, for a world wide organization, isn’t it?

The point of the whole thing is that “War on Terrorism” is absolutely perfect in its intended purpose. It allows perpetual conflict (one Republican lackey thinks we should expect to be at it for a hundred years) – it allows unlimited purchases of sky high weapons; it allows for more favorable odds of re-election for those in charge – after all, we don’t want to change the team in the middle of a war.

FINALLY. As the Republican marionette John Boehner said, “We need to do what it takes to WIN in Iraq.”

OK. Can anyone out there tell me what the definition is, of WINNING in Iraq? Is it when every last person in Iraq is dead? Is it when every last building in the Cradle of Civilization is flattened and burned? Is it when all the written record of this great original country is burned? Is it when every conceivable factor of the Iraqi oil production is owned and operated by Exxon Mobil ?

Bottom Line, everybody: The phrase “War on Terrorism” is the perfect pretense. They have created the perfect one. They have had enormous help from the media, and no resistance from the public like we enjoyed with their previous ploy, that exercise in Vietnam.

BUT IT’S NOT TOO LATE. I’m urging everyone to resist intimidation by language. These people aren’t that smart – they’re devious. They find words that invoke an image, and then absolutely hammer away with it. If we let them get away with something this dumb, we ought to be ashamed.

Watch for my next Post: I’m going to take a story in the news, and reprint it exactly as written, only with definitions included for all their euphemisms.

Faithfully, in the interest of the American people.