Adjectives

The stories appeared today across the AP wire, Reuters, and every newspaper from the NYT to USA today. As a typical example, here’s the USA Today account:

DJAMENA, CHAD (AP) — N'Chadian rebels renewed their assault on the capital of this oil-rich central African country Monday, and tens of thousands of people fled as gunfire crackled and artillery shells exploded across the city.

The third day of fighting in N'Djamena threatened to further destabilize an already violent swath of Africa that is home to hundreds of thousands of refugees and borders Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur region.

Hours after the rebels went back on the attack following an overnight retreat, the U.N. Security Council authorized France and other nations to help Chad's government.

France has 1,800 soldiers backed by fighter jets based in its former colony, but French officials said there were no immediate plans to take on the insurgents. Referring to the U.N. authorization, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said, "I hope that we won't have to use it."

There were fears of a wider regional conflict. Chadian officials have repeatedly accused Sudan's government of supporting the rebels, and one senior general threatened to attack Sudan in retaliation. Sudan's leadership denied involvement.

There’s one key piece of information that’s missing in this USA Today report (as well as most others). Walid Phares presents the key facts [boldface is mine]:

On Saturday, February 2, 2008, and as French President Nicolas Sarkozy was getting married in Paris and Americans were shopping for food to enjoy the "super Bowl" on Sunday, Jihadi-backed military forces launched a blitzkrieg across Chad using one thousand 4 X 4 armed trucks. They reached the capital in few hours and started battling the Chadian Army isolating the President in his Palace and declaring victory to the international media. This so-called "opposition" has a Unified "Military Command" and includes: The Union of Forces for Democracy (UFDD) led by Mahamat Nouri, Rally of Forces for Change (RFC) led by Timane Erdimi, and the UFDD-Fundamental led by Abdelwahid Aboud Mackaye. At first sight a non-seasoned observer would conclude that this is yet another African troubled country with a bunch of "separatists," "rebels" and "insurgents." In fact it is not that simple. These forces have been backed by the Jihadi regime in Khartoum and some of its funding -according to the Chadian Government- has been sent from Saudi Arabia.

At the center of the confrontation is Darfur. This Black Muslim province inside Sudan has been the victim of Genocide at the hands of Arab fundamentalist forces known as the Janjaweed, essentially backed by the regime of Sudan. The people of Darfur have resisted the forced "Arabization" -turned ethnic cleansing- at the hands of the Janjaweed. Both neighboring Chad and the United Nations came to the help of Darfur since 2005. In return, the Salafists and Wahabis of the region came to the support of Sudan's regime against the Africans and the West. France dispatched some military units to Chad and soon a "Eurofor" (European Force) was set under UN auspices to be dispatched on the borders between Chad and Sudan to help the Darfur refugees. The Islamists of Khartoum opposed the international initiative and seems to have enlisted -although discretely- the backing of the Wahabi circles in Saudi Arabia, but also the Syrian and Iranian regimes. Hence the battlefield for Darfur became a fault line between the international community and the strange bed fellows of the Jihadi axis.

It appears as if the international MSM abhors adjectives. Particularly adjectives that properly characterize the ideological and national origins of violent individuals or groups. Hence, it purposely eliminates any reference to the Islamist nature of brutal violence in many parts of the world. It’s as if clearly stating the origins of a violent ideology will somehow illuminate the argument that a low-intensity global war is going on. More important, the war is often against non-Western (e.g., Darfur), non Judeo-Christian (e.g., Thailand) targets. It belies the Left’s contention that any violence is due to oppression and grievances precipitated by Western behavior.

And yet, adjectives do not appear. The public is best kept guessing or ignorant or both. Better to manipulate them with calls for “hope” and compromise, negotiation and concessions. Better to let them think that the “Rebels” in Chad or the Arabist Janjaweed militas in Darfur will “give peace a chance” – if only the right formula were offered up.

There are two adjectives to describe the MSM’s approach —dishonest and dangerous.