L.A. Times Bans 'Resistance Fighters' in Iraq News

[prontospyder]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Los Angeles Times has ordered its reporters to stop describing anti-American forces in Iraq (news - web sites) as "resistance fighters," saying the term romanticizes them and evokes World War II-era heroism.

Link

 

[privatebreyer]

Thats an odd move for the LA Times. Not unwelcome, but unexpected.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

The question is what if they are resistance fighters?

"In the news, those guys who are fighting because they believe we are an occupying force that needs to go because they are opposed to foreign occupation, once again...."

Rather awkward.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: WinstonSmith
The question is what if they are resistance fighters?

"In the news, those guys who are fighting because they believe we are an occupying force that needs to go because they are opposed to foreign occupation, once again...."

Rather awkward.

rofl

 

[DealMonkey]

Now if Fox would stop using 'homicide bombers' - we'd be even.

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

It's more accurate than terrorists. It ain't terrorism when you attack military targets.

 

[ManSnake]

They should be called "Freedom Fighters".

 

[LilBlinbBlahIce]

Originally posted by: DealMonkey
Now if Fox would stop using 'homicide bombers' - we'd be even.

:beer: Cheers to that! That term defines what may well be the stupidist, lamest, most political way EVER to kiss some conservative/pro-Israel ass.

 

[sbp]

The Washington Post calls Hamas and Islamic Jihad "militants" instead of "terrorists" which the murdering pos truly are. :disgust:

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

So when Hamas launches a strike against the IDF they are militants and strikes against civilians makes them terrorists? I could tolerate that distinction . . . does it hold true for the IDF? How about the US military?

The LA Times at least has a better grasp than CNN. I watched one correspondent call the Chinook attack "terrorist".

 

[Commish]

Originally posted by: Gonad the Barbarian
It's more accurate than terrorists. It ain't terrorism when you attack military targets.

Ok, that was inaccurate.

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: Commish

Originally posted by: Gonad the Barbarian
It's more accurate than terrorists. It ain't terrorism when you attack military targets.

It is when you blend in with the civilian population.

Sorry you are wrong.

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

It is when you blend in with the civilian population.

So embedded spies/special ops are terrorists?

 

[cumhail]

The definition of the word 'terrorist,' according to the Oxford English Dictionary (The first, under 'a,' doesn't really apply, in this context; so you can skip to 'b'):

1. As a political term:

a. Applied to the Jacobins and their agents and partisans in the French Revolution, esp. to those connected with the Revolutionary tribunals during the ?Reign of Terror?.

1795 Hist. in Ann. Reg. 169 The terrorists, as they were justly denominated, from the cruel and impolitic maxim of keeping the people in implicit subjection by a merciless severity. 1795 BURKE Regic. Peace iv. Wks. IX. 75 Thousands of those Hell-hounds called Terrorists..are let loose on the people. 1818 HERVE Beauties of Paris II. 296 (Jod.) He assisted La Fayette in endeavouring to defend the king from the terrorists. 1877 MORLEY Crit. Misc. Ser. II. 83 That pithy chapter in Machiavelli's ?Prince? which treats of cruelty and clemency..anticipates the defence of the Terrorists.



b. Any one who attempts to further his views by a system of coercive intimidation.
In early use also applied spec. to members of one of the extreme revolutionary societies in Russia. The term now usually refers to a member of a clandestine or expatriate organization aiming to coerce an established government by acts of violence against it or its subjects. [/b]

1866 FITZPATRICK Sham Sqr. 180 Miss G, the daughter of a Wexford terrorist, directed many of the tortures which were so extensively practised. 1883 Harper's Mag. Jan. 315/2 To [Russian] Terrorists it guarantees..security on condition of a..pledge to abandon.. the revolutionary party. 1905 Westm. Gaz. 20 Sept. 2/1 Several notables are believed to be more or less implicated in the actions of the Terrorists. 1947 Ann. Reg. 1946 60 The latest and worst of the outrages committed by the Jewish terrorists in Palestinethe blowing up of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. 1956 H. NICOLSON Diary 29 Oct. (1968) 311 When people rise against foreign oppression, they are hailed as patriots and heroes; but the Greeks whom we are shooting and hanging in Cyprus are dismissed as terrorists. What cant! 1969 E. J. HOBSBAWM Bandits viii. 101 The war between police and terrorists is one of nerves as well as of guns. Whoever is more frightened has lost the initiative. 1977 P. JOHNSON Enemies of Society xviii. 240 The Baader-Meinhof gang of ultra-Left terrorists. 1979 Spectator 20 Oct. 20/1 (Advt.), In this enthralling autobiography the author of Maquis..retravels the course of his life from his childhood to his war-time exploits as a terrorist in the Resistance.

cumhail