A Vocabulary Barrier

Did you hear Mike Shuster talking about the wall the US was trying to build in Baghdad? There was an interesting, but brief moment in the report this morning.

Shuster notes that Iraqi critics of the wall "have made comparisons to the Berlin Wall, to the wall-- the security barrier that the Israelis have built around the West Bank." Dang, you could almost hear him say "oops" when that forbidden word "wall" came out of his mouth to describe the wall that Israel is using to steal occupied land that it wants (oops, I mean the picket fence that the Israelis have put up to make themselves more secure).

By the time ATC rolled around Mike had got it right and said "security barrier" without hesitation. Good boy, Shuster.

Seriously, I don't really expect NPR to call it the "apartheid wall," but for God's sake, I don't expect to hear it called the "security barrier." How about "the controversial wall that Israel claims is for security, though it takes in land not recognized as belonging to Israel, carves up some Palestinian towns, and was condemned by the World Court." That would be a fair description of the facts. But who needs facts.