War Terms

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7839863.stm

Ban 'appalled' by Gaza's damage

Even though the article is about how outrageous the attacks in Gaza were, war terms are still used to soften he blow of their meaning to the people reading the article. Phrases such as “destroyed by Israeli shells” and “bomb-damaged northern suburbs” do not fully explain the extent of the destruction that was carried out and are much less blunt than simply saying the places were bombed as though trying to cover up the significance of the occurrences. Also, saying things such as “targets of Palestinian rocket attacks” seems to give the impression that the places that were targeted were just simply that, targets, instead of towns inhabited by civilians. The article also uses terms such as “indiscriminate weapons” instead of stating clearly just how carelessly weapons were used in the attacks as though to lessen the impact of the idea on the readers of the article.