The Semantics of War
Reported by Eleanor - June 27, 2004 -
On Fox News Sunday (June 27, 5:00 p.m.ET), the entire point of the program was another attempt to show a connection between Sadam Hussein and al Qaeda through the manipulation of words to muddy the debate and influence the thinking of viewers. Bill Kristol, during the panel discussion, highlighted the reason this issue is so important to the republicans.
Brit Hume, guest moderator asked Kristol, "How important is it for Bush to prevail in Iraq?" Kristol replied, "Very." He continued to explain that how the war on the ground is going; whether or not the war was necessary; and the Sadam connection with the terrorists are the issues in this election. "It's all about Iraq."
Juan Williams said that the "terms of the debate are changing." The American people don't want to know if Sadam went "out to lunch or to a prom" with the terrorists, but they do want to know if Sadam was part of a terrorist network that attacked the U.S. and caused us to go to war.
Comment: The republican media is doing everything they can to make it appear that the terrorist network and the American involvement in an unending war on Iraq are inextricably linked. Thousands of people have died for this, and many more will die before it's over. Any admission of a contrived or weak link or an optional war is political suicide, so the war of semantics goes on.
