Revealing rhetoric - Editor's Note - Editorial

I get paid to watch State of the Union addresses. Why else endure the torture? Bush's speech was just another exercise in war propaganda, but I want to point out a few particularly offensive passages.

Most bloodcurdling moment: After Bush boasted of apprehending 3,000 suspected terrorists, he said, "And many others have met a different fate. Let me put it to you this way: They are no longer a problem for the United States and our friends and allies." That brought down the house, even though Bush was talking about extrajudicial killings, and even though one of those his Administration has assassinated was a U.S. citizen incinerated by a Predator missile in Yemen. Still, Bush couldn't leave well enough alone: "One by one, the terrorists are learning the meaning of American justice."

Most ominous passage: "We will fight with the full force and might of the United States," he vowed, suggesting that nuclear weapons are very much on the table.

Most absurd nationalistic lines: "We are called to defend the safety of our people, and the hopes of all mankind. And we accept this responsibility. ... This call of history has come to the right country."

Most fervently religious: "We do not claim to know all the ways of Providence, yet we can trust in them, placing our confidence in the loving God behind all of life, and all of history."

Most Orwellian: "We seek peace. We strive for peace. And sometimes peace must be defended."

Most offensive use of the passive voice: "If war is forced upon us...." Bush said that phrase twice to drive home the suggestion that he is some reluctant, peace-loving warrior. But no one is forcing Bush to go to war. He's been forcing the war option from day one!

A Peace group wanted to take its message onto the air waves on the night of Bush's State of the Union address. The AntiWar Video Fund had purchased time on CNN in Washington, D.C., that evening, but just hours before the ad was to air, the cable company Comcast yanked it.

"I was totally in disbelief," says Jenny Crumiller, who came up with the idea. "It was infuriating to have worked all this time on the ad and to expect to see it run and to know that all those pro-war people were getting on TV, and we're not."

The ad (which you can view at awvf.com) is a thirty-second spot with regular citizens giving their own unscripted reasons for opposing Bush's impending war against Iraq. These included:

"It's a violation of international law."

"I'm not willing to risk my life for oil."

"George Bush is pursuing a personal agenda."

"It will destabilize the whole Middle East."

"A self-appointed group of mercenaries."

"It makes a mockery of our democracy."

At the end of the spot, their faces are superimposed on an American flag bearing the simple message: "No war. Yes peace."

Why was the ad pulled? "Comcast runs advertisements from many sources representing a wide range of viewpoints, pro and con, on numerous issues of importance to the public," a company spokesperson said. "However, we must decline to run any spot that fails to substantiate certain claims or allegations. In our view, this spot raises such questions."

Comcast cited the comment about international law and the one about mercenaries. Says Crumiller: "We're thinking about legal action."

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