Forbidden Words: Taboo and the Censoring of Language

230 Forbidden Words
the representation of enemies as evil, 59 aggressive, immoral, inhuman and
unjust, whereas we and our allies are the exact opposite. Hypocritically, the
enemy is dehumanized, as in the infamous Vietnam War photo caption
referring to an oriental human being, depicted being dropped to his death
from a helicopter. 60 As we said in Chapter 2, we are invited in as liberators,
they are aggressors and invaders; we make a pre-emptive strike, theirs is a
blitzkrieg or an invasion; our boys (and girls) are freedom-fighters, theirs are
insurgents, dehumanized as softskin targets; civilian deaths caused by our
troops are collateral damage, whereas theirs are murderous terrorist acts
against civilians; and whereas we might disengage from the enemy or make
a tactical withdrawal, they retreat. Our bombing is protective reaction and
we make surgical strikes; bombs that fall outside the target area are incontinent
ordnance, and those dropped on one of our own allies are excused as
friendly fire; they have concentration camps, but we have pacification
centres. When the United States went into tiny defenceless Grenada in
1983, President Ronald Reagan at first referred to the act as an invasion;
after it was all over, however, he objected to reporters about their ‘frequent
use of the word invasion. This was a rescue mission.’ 61 The word invasion is
typically a dysphemism, with connotations of unwanted interference and
enforced domination of others, whereas rescue mission is a euphemism, with
connotations of humanitarian aid. The United States ousted the dictator of
Panama (1989–90) in Operation Just Cause. A couple of years later in
Somalia was Operation Restore Hope – a complete failure. Having abandoned
the Kurds to Saddam Hussein’s revenge after the first Gulf War,
Operation Provide Comfort airlifted supplies to the beleaguered Kurds
(1991–6). The invasion of Taliban-dominated Afghanistan in 2001 was Operation
Infinite Justice and later, Operation Enduring Freedom: by 2005,
there was not much freedom under the powerful warlords and nothing but
chaos has endured. But a Coalition of the Willing, led by the United States and
Britain in defiance of the United Nations, launched Operation Iraqi Freedom.
This put not only military personnel, but also at least ten (some say 100) times
as many Iraqi civilians in harm’s way. Saddam’s military was quickly
softened up by bombs before being degraded and attrited. Within a year, Iraq
was unstable, unsafe for civilians and seemingly going the way of Afghanistan
a couple of years earlier. Iraqis who in 2005 continue to attack the
coalition forces and their stooges are branded terrorists by their targets,
although they use exactly the methods used by the now revered resistance
forces against Nazi occupation in Europe. The same methods were used by
the Zionist gangs to kill British troops and commit acts of sabotage in Britishoccupied
Palestine after the Second World War; the Zionists succeeded in
forming the state of Israel, now strongly supported by the Coalition of the
Willing, who abhor such tactics used against them in Iraq. The language of