In this Newsweek article by Lisa Miller And Matthew Philips the issue of a new, greater Caliphate, or Islamic State, gets a perfect whitewash and Pres. Bush gets a dose of moral equivalency via OBL.
Is there any bias in the article? Well, try the first sentence:
When President George W. Bush starts using fifty-cent words in press conferences, one has to wonder why, and on Wednesday, during his Rose Garden appearance, he used the word "caliphate" four times.
A fifty cent word? Four times? Something is definitely afoot. In the same opening paragraph, we get the whitewash:
Caliphate? Really? Many people live long, fruitful lives without once using the word caliphate. Almost no one, with the exception of our president and some of his advisers, uses it as a pejorative.
Pejorative? Wow. A seventy five cent word? But, only used once...
The article continues on and the authors explain how nobody knows what a caliphate is. So, they look up "caliph" not "caliphate" in an online dictionary..."blah blah blah" and proceed to equate Pres. Bush with OBL:
Bush isn't the first person in recent history to appropriate the word caliphate and use it as a weapon. Osama bin Laden did it himself, most notably three years ago...
The esteemed authors never bother to say exactly what the caliphate is. Some [high school level] research on Wikipedia yields the following:
- Caliphate:
"[T]he caliphate means to cause the masses to act as required by religious insight into their interests in the other world as well as in this world. (The worldly interests) have bearing upon (the interests in the other world), since according to the Lawgiver (Muhammad), all worldly conditions are to be considered in their relation to their value for the other world. Thus, (the caliphate) in reality substitutes for the Lawgiver (Muhammad), in as much as it serves, like him, to protect the religion and to exercise (political) leadership of the world."
- Islamic State:
An Islamic State is referred to a state which is governed by the Sharia. That is, all the laws are developed using Quran, Hadith and Sunnah. Such a state is governed by a Caliph and is for whole Muslim Ummah (instead for a specific group).
Sharia Law? Leadership of the world? Sound pleasant to you?
Having omitted this bit the authors couldn't possibly mention that it would extend from North Africa through the Middle East to South East Asia and require the overthrow of moderate goverments like those of Egypt, Jordan, and Turkey. Nor could they possibly be bothered to mention the potential impact of this on world events.
Perhaps worst of all, the authors never consider just who is actually seeking to establish this new and greater caliphate. Afterall, it's just in "Bush's" imagination right? Well, no, not exactly (Muslim Brotherhood via wikipedia). And of course, nobody really dangerous belongs or has ever belonged to the Muslim Brotherhood (BBC).
So, rather than tackle an important issue with even a sophomoric degree of journalism, Newsweek has opted to take the opporunity to slam Pres. Bush during an election year. Journalism?
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