Recently declassified Pentagon document reveals how euphemisms sugar coat Dept of Defence's actions
The US war on words
A recently declassified Pentagon document reveals how euphemisms sugar coat Department of Defence's actions.
President Barack Obama makes no bones about it.
He calls the treatment of hunger-striking prisoners at Guantanamo “force-feeding”.
But in a just declassified Pentagon document, many of the detainees are described as engaging in “long term non-religious fasting”.
It’s the latest linguistic leavening from the US Department of Defence, a title in itself emblematic of the culture of euphemism at an agency that for 150 years proudly called itself the Department of War.
Since the Bush administration’s declaration of a “Global War on Terror”, the military has worked overtime to enlarge its encyclopedia of euphemisms.
Here’s just a sampling of terms that have become common parlance, and their translations:
“Environmental manipulation” – applying extreme hot and cold temperatures for interrogation
“Kinetic” – firing bombs, missiles and bullets
“Countervalue attack” – fire-bombing a city
http://blogs.aljazeera.com/blog/americas/us-war-words
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