Jingoist Linguistics

With war possibly 24 hours away, it's time to brush up on the deceptive terminology the flapping gums in the mainstream media will likely use to distort the fact that war means death. From The Independent:

Inevitable revenge: for the executions of Saddam's Baath party officials which no one actually said were inevitable.

Stubborn or suicidal: to be used when Iraqi forces fight rather than retreat.

Allegedly: for all carnage caused by Western forces.

At last, the damning evidence: used when reporters enter old torture chambers.

Officials here are not giving us much access: a clear sign that reporters in Baghdad are confined to their hotels.

Life goes on: for any pictures of Iraq's poor making tea.

Remnants: allegedly 'diehard' Iraqi troops still shooting at the Americans but actually the first signs of a resistance movement dedicated to the 'liberation' of Iraq from its new western occupiers.

Newly liberated: for territory and cities newly occupied by the Americans or British.

What went wrong?: to accompany pictures illustrating the growing anarchy in Iraq as if it were not predicted.

From The Observer:

Automaticity: Claim made for resolution 1441 that it requires no further vote.

Blowback: Every foreign policy intervention has unintended consequences: for example, backing Saddam Hussein against Iran; supporting the Islamists, bin Laden included, against the Soviets in Afghanistan.

Collateral damage: Unintended damage to non-military sites; civilians killed or injured; damage to non-military buildings.

Day after: What happens to Iraq afterwards. Can Iraq be remade on the model of post-war Japan or Germany? Or will civil strife make it the next Yugoslavia?

Sweets and flowers: How the Pentagon expects troops to be greeted by Iraqis.

Vertical envelopment: New euphemism for carpet-bombing, The media, having been much criticised for using terms such as collateral damage in previous conflicts, may choose to describe the conflict in simpler language this time.