Saturday, March 05, 2005
Friendly Fire?
The abuse of language has reached a new abyss with reporting on the death of Nicola Calipari, who threw himself over newly-released hostage Giuliana Sgrena to protect her from being killed by US soldiers at a checkpoint near Baghdad. I was watching MSNBC this morning and listening to WCBS radio and both called the incident "friendly fire". When I searched google news for "friendly fire" and "Sgrena" there were 566 stories with both search elements.
"Friendly fire" is the euphemism used when military personnel are killed in combat by their own forces. Do they call the frequent killing of Iraqi civilians at checkpoints and elsewhere "friendly fire"? I don't get the impression that Silvio Berlusconi considers it friendly.
"Friendly fire" is the euphemism used when military personnel are killed in combat by their own forces. Do they call the frequent killing of Iraqi civilians at checkpoints and elsewhere "friendly fire"? I don't get the impression that Silvio Berlusconi considers it friendly.
