The Word for the Day is Torture

Glenn Greenwald writes about NPR’s Bush Apologist hack Alicia Shepard’s insistence on avoiding the term “torture” when refering to what America has done to prisoners in Abu Graihb and Guantanamo. You can read it here:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/06/22/npr/index.html

Shepard is using classic war handwavium logic, misdescribing the physical violence America has done to its prisoners in order to downplay and minimize the severity of those actions.

It’s not “enhanced interrogation techniques”; it’s torture.

They’re not “detainees”; they’re prisoners.

It’s not the Ministry of Love… well, hopefully you get the idea.

In fact, Shepard’s doublespeak on NPR wins her Orwell’s coveted “Ministry of Truth” Award.

Congratulations, Alicia!