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mine your message from the start. Preemption may be the right policy, and Iraq the right place to start. But those are not the right words to use.
Your efforts are about "the principles of prevention and protection" in the greater "War on Terror"."
As you see, Luntz once again tells the Republicans to use imprecise and deceitful language to disguise their real policies. And in this case, he is actually advocating the adoption of a word that describes a policy that is even more immoral than a preemptive policy. Note that even international treaties affirm that countries can attack first when there is a real danger; this is the definition of a preemptive war. A preventative war on the other hand is not justified morally or ethically in any civilized society because it is based on nothing more than a suspicion of a threat. It is like locking up someone at birth because you believe that when someone grows up they will be a dangerous criminal.
The problem is not simply that lying is morally wrong; it is also dangerous for the country. If you want to get answers to hard problems, one essential requirement is to ask the right questions. If you ask the wrong questions, the likelihood of getting a good answer is close to zero. Scientists are known to say, by clearly understanding the problem, you are half way to finding a solution. When one uses language that is deceitful, the policies that are proposed are also suspect. When the Bush administration decided to sell the war on Iraq as a part of the War on Terror, they created a nightmare for our troops and for the ordinary Iraqis who are now living in a chaotic, war-torn country. They also created the cesspool of Abu Ghraib where soldiers believing that the prisoners in their power were terrorists or had information about terrorists, were given the green light to indulge in torture and sadism because terrorists are evil. The consequences of Bush's war of choice justified with lies will be felt by Americans for years, if not decades.
One of the real battles in the upcoming election is reclaiming the right to clear and truthful language. To reclaim our right to the information that allows us to make good decisions as people who live in a democracy. It is time to condemn the lies and secrecy of the right-wing radicals who have taken over our government.
For further information see:
George Orwell, Politics and the English Language, 1946 (http://www.resort.com/~prime8/Orwell/patee.html)
Newt Gingrich, Language: A Key Mechanism of Control, 1996 (http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4443.htm)
Karl Jahn, Leo Strauss and the Straussians, 2000, (http://home.earthlink.net/~karljahn/Strauss.htm)
Frank Luntz, Communicating the Principles of Prevention & Protection in the War on Terror, 2004 (http://mywebpages.comcast.net/atrios/Luntz.pdf)
For a good analysis of how the language in Luntz' memo should be confronted, read http://www.museworld.com/archives/001432.html
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