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 Semantics Can’t Mask Bush’s ChicaneryPosted on Apr 11, 2008By Robert Fisk Originally published in The Independent. After his latest shenanigans, I’ve come to the conclusion that George Bush is the first US president to march backwards. First we had weapons of mass destruction. Then, when they proved to be a myth, Bush told us we had stopped Saddam’s “programmes” for weapons of mass destruction (which happened to be another lie). Now he’s gone a stage further. After announcing victory in Iraq in 2003 and “mission accomplished” and telling us how this enormous achievement would lead the 21st century into a “shining age of human liberty”, George Bush told us this week that “thanks to the surge, we’ve renewed and revived the prospect of success”. Now let’s take a look at this piece of chicanery and subject it to a little linguistic analysis. Five years ago, it was victory – ie success – but this has now been transmogrified into a mere “prospect” of success. And not a “prospect”, mark you, that has even been glimpsed. No, we have “renewed” and “revived” this prospect. “Revived”, as in “brought back from the dead”. Am I the only one to be sickened by this obscene semantics? How on earth can you “renew” a “prospect”, let alone a prospect that continues to be bathed in Iraqi blood, a subject Bush wisely chose to avoid? Note, too, the constant use of words that begin with “re -”. Renew. Revive. And – incredibly – Bush also told us that “we actually re-liberated certain communities”. This, folks, goes beyond hollow laughter. Since when did armies go around “re-liberating” anything? And what does that credibility-sapping “actually” mean? I suspect it was an attempt by the White House speech writer to suggest – by sleight of hand, of course – that Bush was really – really – telling the truth this time. But by putting “actually” in front of “re-liberate” – as opposed to just “liberate” – the whole grammatical construction falls apart. Rather like Iraq. For by my reckoning, we have now “re-liberated” Fallujah twice. We have “re-liberated” Mosul three times and “re-liberated” Ramadi four times. The scorecard goes on. My files show that Sadr City may have been “re-liberated” five times, while Baghdad is “re-liberated” on an almost daily basis. General David Petraeus, in his pitiful appearance before the US Senate armed services committee, was bound to admit his disappointment at the military failure of the equally pitiful Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Basra. He had not followed Petraeus’ advice; which was presumably to “re-liberate” the city (for the fourth time, by my calculation but with a bit more planning). Indeed, Petraeus told senators that after his beloved “surge” goes home, the US will need a period of “consolidation and evaluation” – which is suspiciously close to saying that the US military will be, as the old adage goes, “redeployed to prepared positions”. Ye gods! Where will this tomfoolery end? In statistics, perhaps. By chance, as Bush was speaking this week, my mail bag flopped open to reveal a letter from my old American military analyst friend, George W Appenzeller. He gently (and rightly) corrects some recent comparative figures I used on US casualties in Korea, Vietnam and Iraq. “In previous wars,” he writes, “the US army has not reported to the public the number of wounded who are treated and immediately released back to duty. They have reported these casualties in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars”. So here are a few Appenzeller factoids (glossed by Fisk, so the responsibility is mine!). The correct ratios for wounded in action vs killed in action for Iraq and Afghanistan is 8.13 to 1; for Korea, it’s 7.38 to 1 and for Vietnam it’s 6.43 to 1. The true number of US wounded in Iraq until 18 March this year was 13,170, of whom 8,904 were so badly wounded that they required air evacuation to hospitals outside Iraq. The number of killed in action in Iraq is 3,251. (The other 750 died in accidents or of sickness.) But this does not include the kind of figure that the Pentagon and Bush always keep secret: an astonishing 1,000 or more Western-hired mercenaries, killed in Iraq while fighting or killing for “our” side. But now I’ll let George Appenzeller speak in his own words. “There are widely ranging estimates, but roughly 450,000 individuals ... fought on the ground in Vietnam ... At the height of the Vietnam war there were 67,000 ground combat troops there. That is roughly the number of ground combat troops the US presently has deployed in Iraq. Interestingly enough, that is also about the number of ground combat troops the US had fighting at any one time in the Korean war. “The US army now has a much leaner and meaner organisation than in the past with a higher proportion of combat troops to total troops. All those American civilian truck drivers and Bangladeshi cooks have freed up troop slots that have gone to the combat arms.” No, Iraq has not yet reached Korea and Vietnam proportions. The three-year Korean war resulted in 33,686 US battle deaths and about 250,000 US wounds, an average of 94,562 casualties per year. The American phase of the Vietnam war lasted 14 years and resulted in 47,378 US battle deaths and 304,704 US wounds, an average of 25,149 casualties per year and an average of 66,792 during the four years of 1966-1969, the height of American fighting. The Iraq war has lasted five years and has resulted in 3,251 battle deaths and 29,395 wounds, an average of 6,529 casualties per year. “Thus, the average number of killed and wounded during the Korean war was three times the total number of killed and wounded in the five years of the Iraq war. The average number of killed and wounded during each of the most difficult years of the Vietnam war was twice the total for the five years of the Iraq war.” Now for much more blood, the civilian variety. According to George, “About 1,600,000 were killed in the Korean war, 365,000 (according to American authorities) and four million (according to the Vietnamese government) during the American phase of the Vietnam war, and who knows how many in Iraq. No fewer than 250,000, certainly.” Not that long ago, Bush claimed that civilian fatalities in Iraq were “30,000 more or less” – again, note the “more or less” – but I can see why these statistics matter even less for him. It’s not just that we don’t care a damn about Iraqi lives. We are going to care even less about Iraqi civilian casualties when we walk backwards, when we are renewing and reviving and re-liberating all over again. Previous item: Bush’s Parallel Universe Next item: How Can We Miss Him if He Won't Go Away? Elsewhere: . 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By Claudia, April 18 at 12:52 am # No, Robert, you’re not the only one who is sickened, appalled, ashamed...but what can we do? We march, we petition, we despair, and somebody, somewhere, re-elects him because he’s the guy one supposedly would like to have a beer with!!! :-(
By Max, April 16 at 7:12 am # “Factoids” came and went as an incorrectly word, but it survive in Robert Fisk’s article: “So here are a few Appenzeller factoids”. Factoid: 1 : an invented fact believed to be true because of its appearance in print.
By Conservative Yankee, April 13 at 5:41 am # Go work in a VA hospital I suggest the one in Millington New Jersey, or the one down near Gardiner here in Maine… I believe all potential “soldiers” should be forced to do six months of service in a VA before their “contract to enlist” becomes final..
By karhu, April 12 at 11:20 pm # Curious that an article that makes hay of linguistic anomalies, the author incorrectly employees the word factoid, which is defined as “...something fictitious or unsubstantiated that is presented as fact, devised esp. to gain publicity and accepted because of constant repetition. “
By bozhidar bob balkas, April 17 at 7:21 am # Re: Re: William Tecumseh Sherman : 1879let’s look at the utterance that ``war is best barbarism`` from ground and not from rungs of a ladder.
By Joe, April 12 at 3:23 pm # One area in which Bush’s semantic sleight of hand has had a sad impact is with regard to loss of civil liberties. Invoking fear at any opportunity, this White House has succeeded in turning Americans into frightened Australians, those worthies willingly submitting to firearms confiscation under John Howard in the late-90’s. It was sad for me to discover today that this site, Truthdig, has recently changed its server status to demolish a poster’s right to comment anonymously, using a web-proxy. Such proxies deny anyone from knowledge of your service provider and your own web address (ip). This is a fundamental right to privacy. Truthdig is following the awful example set by Alternet in this regard. I have e-mailed a request to the webmaster that the site correct this insult to its posters. If they persist with this, I suggest free-speech advocates find a website which is more principled.
By Gold Star Father, April 12 at 3:19 pm # Damn FoolJimmy Jam,
By dick, April 12 at 2:24 pm # Actually, things are going great for Bush, Congress, and the rest of the power elite. They want and get more war, continuous war. The masses --?; they are insignificant.
By Joe, April 12 at 1:38 pm # Not sure about the semantics angle since I don’t think W or his proud Geppetto, Cheney, care much what they say or what history will reveal of their characters. These two souls have damaged our military and the reputations of our intelligence community almost beyond comprehension. The casualties quoted probably include few of those suffering from devastating emotional damage, in residence at our many VA hospitals.
By L. Thomas, April 12 at 10:03 am # The current President Bush made a fascinating comment two or three years ago, regarding Iraq and his contention the we were forced into fighting the so-called “War on Terror”. Speaking to reporters, GWB said Speaking as an average American male, I’ll answer “Yes sir, I absolutely DO BELIEVE you wanted desperately to be a ‘War President’, a Commander-in-Chief, an occasssional jet fighter jock, and an all-around ‘tough guy’ on the world stage.” Along with sports and romantic conquest, this is the very stuff of which ultimate male fantasies are made. These are the ‘Walter Mitty’ daydream scenarios of millions (maybe billions) of otherwise domesticated men all around the modern world. Of course our President wanted to be a “War President”, and somehow or other all of the necessary pieces fell (or were allowed to fall) into place during 2001-2002, to put the most advanced, well-trained, well-equiped fighting force that American tax dollars and massive foreign borrowing could buy, right into the War President’s hands, for the bloody and lethal (for others) play-soldier fantasy of a lifetime.
By im4mary, April 12 at 9:19 am # Comparative statistics are fine unless you happen to be one of them. So the killing and injuries have decreased from the past two wars, but pity the soldier with a wife and kids who has traumatic brain injury and can no longer work let alone fighting with the government for the healthcare he deserves (no intent on gender discrimination here, the soldier could just as easily be a woman). The ultimate travesty in all of this is that our legislative and justice bodies refuse to hold this cabal responsible for their catastrophic decisions and the lies they used to support them.
By Conservative yankee, April 12 at 8:25 am # jatihoon, (April 12 at 6:46 am)couldn’t be more correct. The country elected Bush(I know that Florida thing) Well we got him.. and we knew in advance what he was. We’re about to do the same thing again. McCain plans to spend our future and fortune fighting in Iraq for 100 years, while outsourcing our jobs, and importing cheap labor. Hill the Business shill who just (with hubby) made 100 Million over the last three years (very flimsy accounting from whence this money came) Well they’s trying to run her as offspring of mill workers, and a populous friend to “the people.” ...and Token believes we’re all depressed sitting in our cellars with our Nazi literature, cleaning our guns. These people haven’t a clue…
By bozhidar bob balkas, April 12 at 7:49 am # avoiding to talk about avoidancesskirting the basics and most important issues is ubiquitous. a politico has in her bag many mimi, midi, and maxi skirts.
By bozhidar bob balkas, April 12 at 5:57 am # semantics, to me, means labeling and relabellingword “semantics” is not as clear as labeling a situation this and that and then relabeling it as such and such. i do not believe that most people understand the label “semantics”.
By JimM72, April 12 at 5:49 am # ImagineImagine if you or I outed a secret agent, plotted torture and imprisonment, kept changing our story when asked to justify our behavior. and spent money entrusted to us for the public good on our friends and families. It’s too bad the president is indeed like a king and a god and is beyond the reach of the law. We would either be in the federal pen for the above, or being tried for treason.
By JimM72, April 12 at 5:36 am # Channeling Nixon's ghostHe has some sort of unexplainable resistance to being impeached. A combination of his own churlishness and congress’ spineless state of being I suspect.
By Pacrat, April 12 at 4:33 am # Catch Me If You Can!Pres Bush has been thumbing his nose at our Constitution and all of us for his entire term in office - only ten more months to go. (Yea!) And a gutless Congress has allowed him to get away with everything. Even though this administration is the most secretive in our history, it is still the duty of congress to perform oversight. The fact that Congress is still caught in the republican “nodding syndrome,” is no excuse - it is just cowardice pure and simple - and, of couse, dereliction of duty! But the real guardians of liberty, the news media, is probably the worse offender in the oversight process - it has just “gone along to get along.” As for the generals who have complained - where are they now? Just the simpering compliant ones left! Will America endure - you bet, but it will take at least a decade to get things back on course in our country - and to regain our positive image in the world. Add Your Comment |
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UN Envoy Heads to Burma with Urgent Relief Message
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