#78 November/December 2005
The Washington Free Press Washington's Independent Journal of News, Ideas & Culture
Home  |  Subscribe |  Back Issues |  The Organization |  Volunteer 

TOP STORIES

Genetically Engineered Designer Politicians
When it comes to politicians, intelligent design trumps evolution
by Todd Huffman, MD

Judge: Grant County's Public Defense System Deficient
from the ACLU of Washington

The Day My Leaf Blower Became Silent
story & photos by Kristianna Baird

FREE THOUGHTS

READER MAIL
More Trust Goes to Doctors; A Plague Upon You; Can We Clean Up the Hanford Clean-up?; American Politicians: A Threat to the World; On Hunger Strike in WA Prison

Writing in an Age of Terror
by David Swanson

Somebody Up There Likes Us!
Utne Reader nominates us for best local/regional coverage
from the editor

NORTHWEST & BEYOND compiled by Sharlynn Cobaugh
Small-Town Victory in North Central Cascades; Seattleites Rally Against Military Recruitment; US Wants Extradition of Canada's Prince of Pot; Old Growth Forests Endangered by Healthy Forest Initiative; CAFTA: A knife in the back of health freedom-fighters; Dirty Kilowatts; Chavez Prepares for US Intervention

HEALTH

Dentist Gone Native: The prophetic nutritional research of Dr. Weston Price, DDS
Part 2 (conclusion): The effects of modern diet on native peoples
by Dr. Stephen Byrnes

LABOR

Work For Bush
cartoon by David Logan

What About the Rank and File?
Labor leaders are still ignoring Labor's biggest asset: volunteer members
part 2 (conclusion)
opinion by Brian King

Federal Charges Filed Against Cascadian Building Maintenance
from SEIU Local 6

Temp World
part 1
by Margie M. Mitchell

POLITICS

Able Danger: 'Something Bigger Here'
New evidence regarding prior government knowledge of 9/11 terrorists
by Rodger Herbst

Socialist Candidate Scores Well in Seattle Vote
from Advocates for Averill

ENVIRONMENT

Ford Redoubles Green-washing Efforts
Activists double over laughing
from Global Exchange and Rainforest Action Network

TRASH TALK by Dave and Lillian Brummet
The Valuable Individual; Reduce Waste this Christmas

WAR

MEDIA BEAT by Norman Solomon
'The War on Terror'--in Translation

Did you know that...
from David Swanson and O'Kelly McCluskey

Iraq: Toward an Honorable Exit
by Phil Heft

CONTACTS/ACTIVISM

NORTHWEST NEIGHBORS
contact list of subscribers who like to talk with you

DO SOMETHING! CALENDAR
Northwest activist events

MEDIA

Bird Flu!
cartoon by Andrew Wahl

Washington Prisons Pay Record Censorship Penalty
from Prison Legal News

Cable-Access TV Faces Local and National Threats
from SCAN

LAW

Too Much Seatime
by John Merriam, attorney-at-law

CULTURE

Teacher; Dead Artists; Untitled
Three poems by Robert Pavlik

If God...
by Styx Mundstock

The Wanderings and Thoughts of Kip Kellogg
by Vincent Spada

PUMPKIN EDDIE'S LIGHTNING POEMS
Moody; Crazy
by Vincent Spada

EDUCATION

Weapons of Mass Instruction
by Paul Rathgeb

name of regular

by Norman Solomon

'The War on Terror'--in Translation

When the Bush administration fires off a new round of speechifying about "the war on terror," the US press rarely goes beyond the surface meanings of rhetoric provided by White House scriptwriters. But the president's big speech at the National Endowment for Democracy in October could have been annotated along these lines:

Bush: "We will not tire or rest until the war on terror is won."

Translation: This is a war that can go on forever.

"And while the killers choose their victims indiscriminately, their attacks serve a clear and focused ideology, a set of beliefs and goals that are evil but not insane."

As president, I am the world's authority on evilness and insanity.

"These extremists want to end American and Western influence in the broader Middle East, because we stand for democracy and peace and stand in the way of their ambitions."

Those who stand in the way of our ambitions are extremists.

"They hit us and expect us to run. They want us to repeat the sad history of Beirut in 1983 and Mogadishu in 1993, only this time on a larger scale with greater consequences."

Clinton and even Reagan were wimps compared to me.

"The terrorists regard Iraq as the central front in their war against humanity, and we must recognize Iraq as the central front in our war on terror."

When enemies of the United States kill in Iraq, that's evil. When the United States kills in Iraq, that's good.

"Evil men obsessed with ambition and unburdened by conscience must be taken very seriously, and we must stop them before their crimes can multiply."

We are valiantly obsessed with ambition and legitimately unburdened by conscience, while our crimes multiply.

"The radicals exploit local conflicts to build a culture of victimization in which someone else is always to blame and violence is always the solution."

The United States is never to blame, and the solution involves violence from the U.S. government and its allies.

"Over the years, these extremists have used a litany of excuses for violence: Israeli presence on the West Bank or the U.S. military presence in Saudi Arabia or the defeat of the Taliban or the crusades of a thousand years ago."

The extremists make excuses for violence. We don't need any excuse.

"In fact, we're not facing a set of grievances that can be soothed and addressed."

The people who kill without U.S. approval are irrational. The only way to stop them is to kill them.

"No act of ours invited the rage of the killers, and no concession, bribe or act of appeasement would change or limit their plans for murder. On the contrary, they target nations whose behavior they believe they can change through violence."

No one has any valid reason to be angry at us. And we have the prerogative to change behavior through violence.

"It is true that the seeds of freedom have only recently been planted in Iraq but democracy, when it grows, is not a fragile flower. It is a healthy, sturdy tree."

We have speech writers who like to use metaphors, unencumbered by reality-based constraints.

"In Iraq, there is no peace without victory. We will keep our nerve and we will win that victory."

To hell with peace. We want to claim victory, no matter how many people die.

"As we do our part to confront radicalism, we know that the most vital work will be done within the Islamic world itself."

Here's where I get to preach at Muslims about the sanctity of life.

Norman Solomon is the author of the new book War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death. For information, go to: www.WarMadeEasy.com.


The Washington Free Press
PMB #178, 1463 E Republican ST, Seattle WA 98112
WAfreepress@gmail.com

Donate free food
Google
Search the Free Press archive:

WWW
Washington Free Press
Home |  Subscribe |  Back Issues |  The Organization |  Volunteer |  Do Something Directory