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Chicago Tribune, April 10 2003

Text Source

Anonymous (Chicago Tribune). "U.S. bomb mistakenly kills 11 Afghans." Lawrence Journal-World (Lawrence, KS: Lawrence Journal-World; http://www.ljworld.com. April 10 2003): http://www.ljworld.com/section/citynews/story/128085.

Message Unit 1 - an example of patriotized history

core myths:

law-abiding myth

unpatriotized history:

People who fight the US in Afghanistan are violating the US project; this does not make them non-innocent.


The US project in Afghanistan is a crime. The US has established itself as the master of someone else's country.


It is a crime for the US to capture or kill people who fight its project in Afghanistan.

message (of patriotized history):

If citizens of Afghanistan do fight the US in Afghanistan, then they are not innocent, and it is no crime for the US to kill them.

patriotic change (of history):

authority shift

technique:

text:

Although there is no official death toll of civilians in the war in Afghanistan and its aftermath, the human-rights group Global Exchange surveyed 11 provinces last year and determined that at least 800 innocent people had been killed.

Message Unit 4 - an example of patriotized history

core myths:

law-abiding myth

unpatriotized history:

The fact that a person is a member of a US target group does not make it legal for the US to kill him or her. Nor is it a crime to be a member of a US target group.

message (of patriotized history):

It's perfectly normal that the US should be the one to decide who lives and dies in Afghanistan. The only crime would be if the US killed Afghanis in Afghanistan who weren't on the US's list of Afghanis to be killed.

patriotic change (of history):

authority shift

technique:

text:

... Jawad said, adding that coalition forces should make every effort to select their targets correctly.

Message Unit 5 - an example of patriotized history

core myths:

law-abiding myth

unpatriotized history:

The Afghans who work for the US in Afghanistan are saying that the US in Afghanistan should only kill those Afghans in Afghanistan that the US has decided to target for killing; otherwise the Afghans (who apparently don't include anyone who is a US target) might not like the US soldiers.

message (of patriotized history):

It's perfectly normal that the US should be the one to decide who lives and dies in Afghanistan. The only crime would be if the US killed Afghanis in Afghanistan who weren't on the US's list of Afghanis to be killed.

patriotic change (of history):

authority shift

technique:

text:

Although American forces still enjoy support in Afghanistan, some Afghan officials worried that this attack and similar bombings in the past might change people's minds.

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