This document analyzes how journalism has manipulated language to shape public perception of war victims in Vietnam and Iraq. It discusses how during Vietnam, the media often portrayed the Vietnamese as victims of U.S. military action through their use of language and images, contributing to negative views of the war and veterans. In contrast, coverage of the Iraq war typically depicts U.S. veterans and their families as victims. The document examines several news articles in detail to show how journalists attributed or denied agency to different groups to frame them as victims or aggressors.

1. The Power of the Pen: How Journalism Manipulates Language to Mold Public Perception
of Victims of War
Jennifer Wiley
ANT 672
Final Paper
5/12/11

2. The Power of the Pen: How Journalism Manipulates Language to Mold Public Perception
of Victims of War
War is rarely a subject of accord, but in America‟s recent history two wars have sparked
exceptionally notable controversy among the general public. The comparison between the
Vietnam War and the war in Iraq is not a new one and much has been written on the similarities
between the two. Both were heavily criticized by the public, though one more so than the other,
and both were seen as reasons to distrust the American government. However, there are also
stark differences. One such difference can be found in the depiction of victims of war in each
case. Coming out of Vietnam, veterans found themselves the target of much ridicule from the
general public. Much speculation has blamed this fact on the way the media portrayed the
Vietnamese and the refugees in the role of victim of the United States and the military. In
contrast, today the public sees the veterans of Iraq and their families as the unfortunate victims of
a senseless war while little discussion, if any, is held on refugees. By studying literature on the
use of media in war and analyzing the language of articles from various news sources, it can be
understand how journalists can manipulate language to mold the public‟s perception of war.
As much as the Vietnam War has been contested in history, the role of the press during
that war has been the source of equal controversy. Many, especially those in the military,
actually blame the media for the loss of the war due to reports “poisoning public opinion and
eroding public support.”1 Some believe that the choice of reporters to focus on violent images
and stories of American misconduct in Vietnam created a perception at home of the Vietnamese
as victims of the military. Additionally, the media‟s tendency to contradict official statements
with information they gathered themselves in the field has been credited with the American
__________________
1
Rid, Thomas. 2007. War and Media Operations: The US Military and the Press from Vietnam to Iraq. New York,
NY: Routledge. p 61

3. public‟s growing distrust of the government and the military at the time.2 The result was large
scale anti-war activism at home and deep hatred for returning veterans, many protestors going so
far as to even spit on them in the airport.3 “For those military people, the print and broadcast
journalists were as much the „enemy‟ as the Communist forces.”4
The Vietnam War was the beginning of a completely new approach to war coverage.
One major reason for this is the fact that it was the first war that used television as a primary
method of delivering information to the American public. In an attempt to make more exciting
television, these reports have been criticized for focusing more on sensationalism than on
accuracy. By using short segments, often only two or three minutes long, critics claim the
television media attempted to hit “viewers‟ emotions rather than their intellect,”5 resulting in
distorted views of the actual events of the war and thus breading a negative perception. Whether
or not this is true, the United States did not at the time have any censorship on the media, thus
allowing the content of these short segments to be left to the judgment of the reporters and
producers. Whatever consequences that allowed for, it created a news source that made the
successes and mistakes of both the United States military and the Army of the Republic of
Vietnam equally available to the public.6 Although the equal availability of information for both
sides of the war has an upside, it also allowed for greater potential to manipulate the emotions of
the American people.
___________________
2
Rid, p. 53-58
3
Kennedy, William V. 1993. The Military and the Media: Why the Press Cannot Be Trusted to Cover a War.
Westport, CT: Praeger. p 101
4
1998. “Media and the War,” Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History. Santa
Barbara: ABC-CLIO. CredoReference. Accessed April 10, 2011.
5
1998 “Television and the Vietnam Experience," Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and
Military History. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. CredoReference. Accessed April 10, 2011.
6
Ibid

4. However, the changes in the press during Vietnam were not restricted to physical
medium. There has also been an implication that the media no longer saw itself as accountable
to the American government. The responsibility was now instead to the parent company and was
seen as another reason for the military to be wary of journalists. There was a growing sense of
competition between different news sources and many reporters made it their priority to get what
could be the most interesting story as quickly as possible. This, in conjunction with the new
broadcast media, created an atmosphere of instant reporting that left behind the “thoughtful,
deliberate process of review and editing that used to take place in newspaper offices prior to
publication”7 in order to preserve a story‟s urgency and novelty. Furthermore it has been
suggested that editors, feeling the lack of accountability to the government as much as, if not
more than, the reporters in the field, developed their own social agendas in accord with the
anti-war sentiment and manipulated even the more factual stories in order to romanticize the
Vietnamese fighters.8
Competition and social or political agendas were not the only cause of reports with
misinformation. From the very beginning of a US media presence in Vietnam, reports suffered
from a lack of cross-cultural understanding. Many reporters “knew little or nothing of Asian
history and culture, let alone of the highly specialized history and culture of Vietnam”9 leaving
them ignorant of the basic elements of the struggle between the Vietnamese. It has been argued
that one of the greatest examples of this ignorance was apparent in the media coverage of
Buddhist priests who set themselves on fire in protest of the Vietnamese president, Diem, a
Roman Catholic. Though the protests were largely political, journalists always stressed the
religious side of the matter by “never failing” to name the president in their articles as “Roman
______________________
7
“Media and War”
8
Ibid
9
Kennedy, p. 94

5. Catholic Diem” opposite the Buddhist monks. The result of this was a heavy American
perception of religious persecution in Vietnam, though it has also been argued that the protests
were the doing of only a small group and had very little impact on the majority of the
Vietnamese population.10 These small choices in language can leave a large impression and a
question arises: “Does the work of the journalist, ipso facto, make the journalist a participant in
and a shaper of the events he or she is writing about?”11
The Vietnam War was in many ways a turning point for reporting war coverage and
today, the coverage of the war in Iraq is evidence the continuation of many of those trends.
Journalists‟ awareness that their reports are more along the lines of narratives, which started
during Vietnam, is more widespread than ever. According to Thomas Gardner‟s War as
Mediated Narrative: The Sextet of War Rhetoric, there are six categories of persuasion within
these narratives: national identity, gender, culture, ego, economics, and religion. Combinations
of these categories were used during the buildup of the war to bolster support and encourage men
and women to enlist. In the immediate wake of 9/11, American nationalism was high and the
media tapped into that feeling, using similar language to frame the opposition and encourage
patriotic action. Additionally, the stress on the idea that it was the Islamic world that attacked
innocent Americans brought religion into play to solidify the framework around the definition of
the enemy. However, as the war in Iraq quickly came under scrutiny when no weapons of mass
destruction were found, even these methods of narrative propaganda faltered.12
But this didn‟t end the use of the narrative rhetoric in the media, it only added a new
dimension to it. While some continued to support the same discussions that began the war,
______________________
10
Kennedy, p. 97-101
11
Kennedy, p. 95
12
Gardner, Thomas N. 2008. War as Mediated Narrative: The Sextet of War Rhetoric. In Constructing America‟s
War Culture: Iraq, Media, and Images at Home. Thomas Conroy and Jarice Hanson, eds. Pp. 107-126.
Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. p. 117-123

6. others began narratives of opposition. These narratives voiced the feelings of those who don‟t
follow the existing norms and those who wished to guide the conversation toward critiques of
what has been accepted as those norms.13 Especially in a world like today‟s with 24-hour news
cycles, these conflicting narratives can lead to a great deal of debate, for better or for worse.
24-hour news cycles are not the only change in today‟s world from that during the
Vietnam War. New technology has changed the way journalists report even more than television
broadcasts did in Vietnam. Today “reporters [have] unprecedented capabilities to file their
stories, fast and almost without the military‟s logistical support.”14 The combination of digital
cameras, cell phones, smart phones, laptop computers, and so much more have all created an
environment where informational language is passed on almost as soon as it is acquired. For the
military in Iraq, this is both a blessing and a curse and it tends to lean in the favor of the
journalists regardless. No matter where the reporter is, they can report back to their audience
quickly and share information with their fellow reporters instantly. Though that might have
some major positives, it also leaves officials in tough positions, such as being required to
respond to questions about situations that happened only minutes prior. In these cases, the
official most likely has not had time to be given as much information as the reporter has or may
not have even heard of the situation at all. Media sources, both domestic and foreign, are highly
connected through their array of technologies and often use each other‟s materials in real-time as
sources. But the military is not entirely a victim of this spike in technology. They are also able
to use it to their own advantage by passing their own informational language through the scope
of the reporters just as quickly.15
____________________
13
Gardner, p. 123
14
Rid, p. 147
15
Rid, p. 148-156

7. But there is still much that is similar today to the days of Vietnam. Most importantly,
reports are still extremely competitive, maybe even more so than before. While some maintain
integrity but making sure their language is correct, others still are more concerned with
sensationalism and do not make truth and objectivity a priority. “Celebrity was the thrust and
momentum of information operations.”16 Just like in Vietnam, there are many situations where
the language of the reports reflects more of the desire to get the best story out first and the social
or political agenda of the person responsible. Additionally, those new technologies have further
created a demand for fast, if any, editing and the trend begun during Vietnam to sacrifice this in
order to push the story out faster remains.17
Interestingly though, it appears that the government did learn at least a small lesson from
the environment of distrust between the military and the media of Vietnam. When troops were
first deployed in Iraq, the Pentagon also “embedded” reporters with the troops and units. This
resulted in the reporters finding themselves identifying with the men and women fighting the war
much more so than before, a fact that was reflected in the regular use of “we” instead of the
“they” in reports. Furthermore, instead of reports of acts of misconduct by Americans as existed
during Vietnam, there was a focus in the reports on “heroic tales of our troops in peril.”18 These
reports were especially useful in boosting confidence during the earliest stages of the war.19
While the two wars have their obvious differences, the use of the media to manipulate the
way the American public perceived the war and those involved was, and continues to be, present
in both. By analyzing the language of these reports, the methods of depicting victims of war in
_____________________
16
Rid, p. 157
17
Rid, p. 150-157
18
Gardner, p. 113
19
Ibid

8. both cases begin to show. Looking at articles concerning the dead, the survivors, and public help
for those who have come out the other side, agency plays a critical role in how reporters defined
the victims of each war. Additionally, what the reports chose not to say and the similar language
across both wars further frames the victimization.
“[L]inguistic anthropologists have looked to language for concrete examples of effective
(and ineffective) social action”20 and the use of agency has been viewed as one such effective
example.21 Agency is all about attributing responsibility, and where that responsibility falls and
does not fall is where journalists are able to frame their victims. For the journalists of Vietnam,
this was not the soldiers, a fact made clear from articles about soldiers who have died while at
war, especially when compared to similar articles from the war in Iraq. In the Washington Post
article on the Iraq war, Blast in Kabul Kills 14 Afghans, 2 US Soldiers, agency is used to make
the US soldiers appear on the defensive. In the sentence “…Taliban militiamen are battling
NATO troops…with unexpected aggressiveness”22 (see Appendix, section 1.A.i) the reporters
point the finger at the Taliban for being the aggressors that caused these fatalities, even though
their numbers are far more than those of the fallen US soldiers in this case. Within this same
article, agency is used again by the reporters to frame the US soldiers as those on the defensive,
victims of the aggression from the Middle East, by reminding the American public that it was the
terrorists who attacked first in saying “…the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United
States which triggered the US military campaign that drove the Taliban from power the
following November…”23 (see Appendix, section 1.A.ii). Though in this statement, the Taliban
are on the receiving end, it is not the US soldiers who have the agency that led to their downfall,
_______________
20
Ahearn, Laura M. 2001. Language and Agency. Annual Review of Anthropology 30: 109-137. p. 125
21
Ibid
22
Constable, Pamela and Javed Hamdard. 2006. Blast in Kabul Kills 14 Afghans, 2 US Soldiers. The Washington
Post, September 9: A1, A14. p. A1
23
Ibid

9. but the campaign. However, it is still emphasized that it was the terrorist attacks that caused the
campaign to begin with.
Agency continues to take responsibility away from fallen soldiers in Iraq in the
Washington Post article Army Faces Rising Number of Roadside Bombs in Iraq. Here, the
discussion about the lethality of bombs puts the agency on inanimate objects in statements such
as “About 1,200 improvised explosive devices (IEDS) – the leading killer of US troops in Iraq –
were detonated in August…”24 and “Bombs that are particularly devastating for US troops today
include „explosively formed penetrators‟ – metal slugs placed in cones that can punch through an
inch of steel…”25 (see Appendix, sections 1.B.i-ii). In doing so, this reporter not only victimizes
US soldiers at the hands of these bombs, but also takes power away from the insurgents
responsible for creating them by not giving them the agency. Language and power are
intertwined26 and agency and silence are two methods of using language to give and take power.
The only time this article does give agency to the Iraqi people is while putting the blame
on them for the increase in US deaths: “But finding the bombs has grown more difficult as fewer
Iraqis have come forward to alert the military about bombs, snipers, and other enemy
activity…”27 (see Appendix, section 1.B.iii). However, this is still not attributing agency to the
insurgents responsible for the bombs. Instead, the reporter again takes power away from them
by claiming that the civilian people have the power to help stop them.
In comparison, the articles on Vietnam‟s fallen soldiers take the victimization away from
the troops by using patiency to keep the blame from going to anyone else. In the article GI
Deaths Top 10,000, the reporter uses such blunt statements as “A record high of 337 US troops
________________
24Tyson, Ann Scott. 2006. Army Faces Rising Number of Roadside Bombs in Iraq. The Washington Post,
September 8: A12. p. A12
25Ibid
26Ahearn, p. 111
27Tyson, p. A12

10. were killed in Vietnam last week, pushing the total for the war over the 10,000 mark,”28 “The
exact figure of the total of US servicemen killed from the beginning of the Vietnam War through
May 20 is 10,253,”29 and “…another 2058 men died in Vietnam from accidents and other non-
combat causes”30 (see Appendix, sections 2.A.i-ii, iv). In each of these statements, the use of
making the soldiers the patient of their deaths deflects blame from the enemy or other soldiers by
implying the death was coming on its own without any one to cause it. The use of direct agency
is reserved for statements of politics, such as “The growing causality lists are more likely to
strengthen the hand of those in the Government trying to hold the line against further
escalation”31 (see Appendix, section 2.A.iii). Reserving agency for these subjects gives them
greater power, emphasizing the importance of the political implications of these deaths over the
personal ones.
However, as the article continues, the reporter does appear to depict the Vietnamese as
victims. In the statement “The US military command in Saigon said last week‟s fighting also
exacted a heavy toll on the enemy…”32 (see Appendix, section 2.A.v), the use of agency makes
the fighting (and therefore, it can be implied, the US troops) responsible for the deaths of the
enemy. In contrast to those statements earlier keeping all blame for US deaths away from the
Vietnamese, this creates an image of the Vietnamese as victims of a war that the US troops have
inflicted upon them.
By moving onto articles about survivors, the Vietnam media‟s general trend of
victimizing the Vietnamese instead of the soldiers becomes even more apparent. While today
___________________
28
Wilson, George C. 1967. GI Deaths Top 10,000. The Washington Post, May 26: A1, A14. p. A1
29
Ibid
30
Wilson, p. A14
31
Ibid
32
Ibid

11. the news is full of reports of veterans returning home and struggling to adjust back to civilian
life, the survivors that the Vietnam media chose to focus on were the thousands of Vietnamese
refugees. In direct contrast, while the Iraq media focused on the returning veterans, there are
little, if any, reports today on Middle Eastern refugees. In this case, instead of the differences in
language expressing the framing of victims in these wars, it is the similarities in what is said and
what is not said that show how both defined their victims.
By not acknowledging certain parties when addressing the struggles of those who survive
war, not only does the media diminish the seriousness of their hardships, but it takes power from
them as a people. By focusing on only one group of struggling survivors, the media presents
them as the only surviving victims of war to the public and silences all others. “Those who are
denied speech cannot make their experience known and thus cannot influence the course of their
lives or of history.”33 In turn, this makes the stories about the chosen group more important and
therefore the group is more important as a whole. The reporters telling their stories then also
gain power by being the bridge between the group and general public.
But in discussing the victims of war who survived, silence against others is not the only
method of molding public perception. Similar uses of agency by both the Vietnam and Iraq
media sources are used to depict their respective groups of survivors as people in need.
Additionally, the fact that both stress similar needs for the survivors and call for similar methods
of aid shows how these different reporters from different eras viewed their role in the media in
similar ways. In the Washington Post article Viet Refugee Estimate Increases to 70,000, the
Vietnamese refugees are almost always the recipients of an agent in the form of some American
____________________
33
Gal, Susan. 1991. Between Speech and Silence: The Problematics of Research on Language and Gender. In
Gender at the Crossroads of Knowledge: Feminist Anthropology in the Postmodern Era. Micaela di
Leonardo, ed. pp 175-203. Berkley: University of California Press. p. 175

12. official: “…the military had ordered 40,000 pounds of rice…and 50,000 pounds of frozen fish
and poultry to feed the refugees…”34 (see Appendix, section 2.B.ii). These kinds of statements
are successful in depicting an image of a defeated people just trying to survive. By pairing these
with quotes from American officials pledging not to turn their backs on the refugees such as
“‟We‟re not going to abandon anybody,‟”35 (see Appendix, section 2.B.i) by the Assistant
Secretary of State, the image of the refugees in need is further solidified and the public is left
feeling motivated to further encourage their politicians to take action. The Iraq era article, 2010
Jobless Rate for Young War Veterans at 20.9%, uses agency in very like ways to portray
veterans as similarly in need. Such statements as “The problem has persisted despite
government and private initiatives designed to help them.”36 (see Appendix, section 1.C.ii) show
a similar depiction of helplessness and the quote “‟They take four or eight years of experience
and throw it out the door and pretend it doesn‟t even exist,‟ said Murray (D-Wash). „That to me
is a huge consequence to them, professionally.‟”37 (see Appendix, section 1.C.iii) again shows
the interest of at least a few high government officials.
The tone of both articles is one of a call to arms, indicating that reporters both then and
now view their role as one of responsibility for such things. Both articles directly express the
need for the federal government to take on more responsibility, using those quotes from officials
as examples to lead by. The largest need from the government is funding so that private
organizations can have the means to pick up the slack. In Viet Refugee Estimate Increase to
70,000, the reporter states “Without funds from the government, Klein said, local voluntary
___________________
34
Meyer, Lawrence. 1975. Viet Refugee Estimate Increases to 70,000. The Washington Post, May 1: A10
35
Ibid
36
Hefling, Kimberly. 2011. 2010 Jobless Rate for Young War Veterans at 20.9%.
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/2295289111.html?FMT=FT&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=
Mar+18%2C+2011&author=Kimberly+Hefling&pub=The+Washington+Post&startpage=B.4&desc=2010
+jobless+rate+foryoung+war+veterans+at+20.9%25&free=1. Accessed April 15, 2011.
37
Ibid

13. agencies will be unable to begin the job of helping the refugees…”38 (see Appendix, section
2.B.v) and in 2010 Jobless Rate for Young War Veterans at 20.9%, the author reports
“Advocates say more of a concentrated effort to have licensing and skills obtained in the military
translate into the civilian workplace and more public awareness about what veterans offer
employers are needed to tackle the problem.”39 (see Appendix, section 1.C.ii). Furthermore,
both articles stress a need for similar necessities in order for some one to begin a new life. Both
focus on the need for each group of survivors to have the chance to find a job and housing as the
foundation for their new beginnings (see Appendix, sections 1.C.iv. and 2.B.v.). The implication
that these groups are owed these types of necessities also emphasizes the seriousness of the
struggle they‟ve been through and the idea that America owes it to them adds even more to the
image of them as a victimized people.
The American people, too, have been inspired in both the past and the present to do what
they can, with or without support from the government, to help those they perceive to be
innocent victims of these wars. This trend sparked another wave of news articles, this time
focused on continuing to depict the survivors as victims but also rewarding the everyday people
who stepped up to lend a hand. This, however, in the case of the Vietnam media, also seemed to
inspire an even heavier level of victimization of the refugees, possibly as a way of in turn
portraying the helpful public as even more necessary. In Showing a Little Class, the reporter
focused entirely on civilian aid without government backing, listing several average families
who went above and beyond the call of duty to help the Vietnamese refugees. In statements such
as “He and his wife have adopted two Vietnamese families…”40 and “He offered two
___________________
38
Meyer, p. A10
39
Hefling
40
1975. "Showing a Little Class." National Review 27, no. 19: 540. Military & Government Collection,
EBSCOhost. Accessed May 5, 2011.

14. Vietnamese families the plane fare to Hamilton from California and jobs for the men in his small
foundry”41 (see Appendix, sections 2.C.ii, iv) the refugees again are framed as the recipients of
the responsible Americans. By once again using agency to give credit to the American families,
this seems to have a similar tone to that of the articles calling for the government to step in.
However, additional statements such as “…the fishing boats heavy with human cargoes left
drifting when the US Navy sailed off to the Philippines and Guam…”42 (see Appendix, section
2.C.i) seem to go the extra mile themselves to create an even more helpless image than before.
Additionally, the direct mention of the Navy leaving such a pitiful scene as the one in that
description would almost definitely inspire further anger from the general public toward the
government and military in a time where anger of that kind was already rampant. This could
have been a tactic that would push more civilians to volunteer their time out of exasperation with
how their government had failed both them and the refugees. By describing the refugees as
victims not only of the war, but of the American military and government, the media was able to
further focus the American public on their suffering by painting a common enemy. The mutual
betrayal by the US government could now be seen as something that brought two very different
peoples with very different ways of life to a mutual understanding of one another.
Although not everyone was as welcoming of the refugees, this article focused on those
stories of the greatest amount of acceptance. Briefly mentioning negative sentiments about
refugees arriving to a camp in Arkansas, the article moved quickly into the uplifting statement of
(see Appendix, section 2.C.iii)
“When the first group of Vietnamese arrived at the Camp, though,
they found at the airport a hundred or more Americans there, standing
around in the rain…with hand painted signs of welcome in Vietnamese…”43
________________
41
Ibid
42
Ibid
43
Ibid

15. By focusing on the positive instead of the negative, the reporter showed support of those who
wanted to help the people the media had so diligently framed as victims.
The Iraq media, however, did not take the same path in its description of people and
programs helping the veterans it has painted as the victims of war. Instead, many articles focus
on government-funded programs specifically designed for purpose of helping veterans find jobs
and support. Furthermore, though there is acknowledgement of help from others where it is due,
there is not the same feeling that there is an attempt at making those already viewed as victims
seem even more victimized. Instead, there is even a feeling that the reports are attempting to
portray them as less victimized. In the article Defense Contractors Make Hiring Veterans a
Priority, the reporter begins by describing again the struggle of returning veterans: “Ayres, who
also suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, worked with military recruiting firms, but they
didn‟t seem to understand how to handle his atypical resume”44 (see Appendix, section 1.D.i).
Though this is an example the struggle facing many veterans, it does not add additional hints of
victimization beyond what has become the norm in many other articles already examined. Even
when the reporter acknowledges that Ayres received help from a government-funded program
designed to help veterans get back in the job market, agency is not initially given to the program:
“…Ayres was brought on as a subject matter expert in the firm‟s health information technology
group”45 (see Appendix, section 1.D.ii). This gives the image of Ayres one of less of a victim,
some one who may need help but will eventually be able to stand on his own two feet.
As the article progresses, there is a shift away from the individual veteran and on to the
programs. With this shift, the agency shifts, but because the subject has changed to the programs
_________________________
44
Censer, Marjorie. 2011. Defense Contractors Make Hiring Veterans a Priority.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/defense-contractors-make-hiring-veterans-a-
priority/2011/03/28/AFMKJxWC_story.html Accessed April 20, 2011.
45
Ibid

16. at this point, the use of agency is not used for victimizing the veterans. Instead, by saying
“Northrop launched its effort in 2004 but ramped up in 2008 when it employed a full-time
placement specialist to market the program‟s candidates across the company”46 and “The
program is meant to help ease the transition from military to contractor, which can be a
struggle”47 (see Appendix, sections 1.D.iii, iv) the reporter stresses the good of the program and
the importance of its actions in helping the veterans. This allows for a the public to see that as
much as the soldiers of this war have been victimized, they also have opportunities to come back
from the war and live a normal life again. Though much still needs to be done, as is made clear
in the continued presence of the articles calling for more help discussed earlier, these articles
give a little glimpse of hope that America is moving in the right direction to support the men and
women who fought overseas.
The media has a complicated history with its coverage of war. There is a wide range of
perspectives and subjects that sometimes clash with public opinion and sometimes play a part in
molding that opinion. By studying the coverage of the Vietnam War and the war in Iraq, certain
trends become apparent that shape how the American public eventually understands the war and
the various victims associated with it. Though trends will ultimately change, one thing that will
remain for sure will be the presence of the media in the warzone. Because of this, the media will
always use manipulation of language to send reports back to the public that will be slanted in one
way or another. Using this as a tool for creating a perception of who is paying the price of the
war will most likely be a trend that lasts for many more generations.
______________________
46
Ibid
47
Ibid

17. References
1975. "Showing a Little Class." National Review 27, no. 19: 540. Military & Government
Collection, EBSCOhost. Accessed May 5, 2011.
1998. "Media and the War," Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military
History. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. CredoReference. Accessed April 10, 2011.
1998. "Television and the Vietnam Experience," Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political,
Social, and Military History. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. CredoReference. Accessed
April 10, 2011.
Ahearn, Laura M. 2001. Language and Agency. Annual Review of Anthropology 30: 109-137.
Censer, Marjorie. 2011. Defense Contractors Make Hiring Veterans a Priority.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/defense-contractors-make-
hiring-veterans-a-priority/2011/03/28/AFMKJxWC_story.html Accessed April 20, 2011.
Constable, Pamela and Javed Hamdard. 2006. Blast in Kabul Kills 14 Afghans, 2 US Soldiers.
The Washington Post, September 9: A1, A14
Gal, Susan. 1991. Between Speech and Silence: The Problematics of Research on Language and
Gender. In Gender at the Crossroads of Knowledge: Feminist Anthropology in the
Postmodern Era. Micaela di Leonardo, ed. pp 175-203. Berkley: University of California
Press.
Gardner, Thomas N. 2008. War as Mediated Narrative: The Sextet of War Rhetoric. In
Constructing America‟s War Culture: Iraq, Media, and Images at Home. Thomas Conroy
and Jarice Hanson, eds. Pp. 107-126. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Hefling, Kimberly. 2011. 2010 Jobless Rate for Young War Veterans at 20.9%.
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/2295289111.html?FMT=FT&FMTS
=ABS:FT&date=Mar+18%2C+2011&author=Kimberly+Hefling&pub=The+Washington
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18. Tyson, Ann Scott. 2006. Army Faces Rising Number of Roadside Bombs in Iraq. The
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Wilson, George C. 1967. GI Deaths Top 10,000. The Washington Post, May 26: A1, A14

19. Appendix
1. Iraq
A. Blast in Kabul Kills 14 Afghans, 2 US Soldiers
i. Friday‟s bombing came as Taliban militiamen are battling NATO troops in southern
Afghanistan with unexpected aggressiveness and occupying rural districts there.
ii. The blast occurred on the eve of two tense anniversaries for the country: the Sept. 11,
2001 terrorist attacks on the United States which triggered the US military
campaign that drove the Taliban from power the following November…
B. Army Faces Rising Number of Roadside Bombs in Iraq
i. About 1,200 improvised explosive devices (IEDS) – the leading killer of US troops in
Iraq – were detonated in August as insurgents continue to invent new ways to design and
hide the lethal munitions, according to retired Army Gen. Montgomery C. Meigs, director
of the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, which is spearheading
efforts to curb the bombs.
ii. But finding bombs has grown more difficult, as fewer Iraqis have come forward to
alert the military about bombs, snipers and other enemy activity since the February
bombing of the gold-domed mosque in Samarra sparked a spiral of sectarian killings.
iii. Bombs that are particularly devastating for US troops today include “explosively
formed penetrators” – metal slugs placed in comes that can punch through an inch of
steel, he said.
C. Jobless Rate for Young War Veterans at 20.9%
i. Concerns that Guard and Reserve troops will be gone for long stretches and that
veterans might have mental-health issues or lack civilian work skills appear to be factors
keeping the unemployment rate for Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans at 20.9 percent, a
slight drop from the year before but still well over the 17.3 percent rate for non-veterans
of the same age group, 18-24.
ii. The problem has persisted despite government and private initiatives designed to help
them. Advocates say more of a concentrated effort to have licensing and skills obtained
in the military translate into the civilian workplace and more public awareness about
what veterans offer employers are needed to tackle the problem.
iii. Sen. Patty Murray, chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, said veterans have
told her that they take their military experience off their resumes because they fear a
potential employer will decide they're at risk for post-traumatic stress disorder and not
hire them. “They take four or eight years of experience and throw it out the door and
pretend it doesn’t even exist,” said Murray (D-Wash). “That to me is a huge
consequence to them, professionally.”
iv. One of the largest government efforts is the Post-9/11 GI Bill administered by the
Veterans Affairs Department, which by the end of last year had paid out nearly $7.2

20. billion in tuition, housing and stipends for more than 425,000 veterans or their eligible
family members.
D. Defense Contractors Make Hiring Veterans a Priority
i. A former Marine, Ayres had suffered severe injuries in Fallujah: A rocket-propelled
grenade inflicted nerve damage, burns, partial blindness and traumatic brain injury.
Ayres, who also suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, worked with military
recruiting firms, but they didn‟t seem to understand how to handle his atypical resume.
ii. But Ayres impressed a Northrop Grumman executive with a speech he gave on Capitol
Hill, and, through a Northrop program geared toward hiring severely wounded veterans,
Ayres was brought on as a subject matter expert in the firm‟s health information
technology group.
iii. McLean-based Booz Allen Hamilton, for instance, announced recently it would
participate in the Army Partnership for Youth Success program, meant to connect retired
soldiers with major corporations. Fairfax-based SRA International launched a program in
January to help injured veterans find new careers with the company.
Northrop launched its effort in 2004 but ramped up in 2008 when it employed a full-time
placement specialist to market the program‟s candidates across the company.
iv. The program is meant to help ease the transition from military to contractor, which
can be a struggle.
2. Vietnam
A. GI Deaths Top 10,000
i. A record high of 337 US troops were killed in Vietnam last week, pushing the total
for the war over the 10,000 mark.
ii. The exact figure of the total US servicemen killed from the beginning of the Vietnam
War through May 20 is 10,253.
iii. The growing causality lists are more likely to strengthen the hand of those in the
Government trying to hold the line against further escalation.
iv. Besides the 10,235 battle deaths, thus far, another 2,058 men died in Vietnam from
accidents and other non-combat causes.
v. The US military command in Saigon said last week‟s fighting also exacted a heavy toll
on the enemy, with 2,464 North Vietnamese and Vietcong claimed as killed.
B. Viet Refugee Estimate Increases to 70,000
i. “We‟re not going to abandon anybody. That would be unconscionable on our part.”

21. ii. The spokesman said the military had ordered 40,000 pounds of rice, 40,000 pounds of
powdered milk and 50,000 pounds of frozen fish and poultry to feed the refugees
Vietnamese-type food.
iii. Although the federal government will be relying almost entirely on voluntary agencies
to help Vietnamese without family or friends in this country to resettle virtually no funds
have been made available to the agencies.
iv. “Money is the key now,” said Well Klein, who represents three private voluntary
agencies. “We‟re all right so far, but we‟re not going to be all right for long.”
v. Without funds from the government, Klein said, local voluntary agencies will be
unable to begin the job of helping refugees settle into new homes and jobs.
vi. The Public Health Service, apparently reacting to scattered expressions of concern that
the refugees may be carrying disease issued a statement yesterday saying that the
“refugees pose no more of a problem to the health of Americans than the thousands of
other travelers who enter this country from the Far East every year.”
C. Showing a Little Class
i. Lots of things were wrong about the evacuation from Vietnam, the timing, the
organization, the people who got left behind, the fishing boats heavy with the human
cargoes left drifting when the US Navy sailed off to the Philippines and Guam; but there
were, too, the other stories, maybe not of America‟s brightest but of America‟s best, the
individual Americans who cared and acted.
ii. He and his wife have adopted two Vietnamese families. Carole Karvazy says she can
hardly handle the phone calls. People who want to give money, food, clothes, blankets,
and toys.
iii. When the first group of Vietnamese arrived at the Camp, though, they found, at the
airport a hundred or more Americans there, standing around in the rain, bedraggled,
uncomfortable, with hand-printed signs of welcome in Vietnamese, a local high school
band playing “God Bless America” –perhaps not the most appropriate tune for the
occasion, but heartfelt.
iv. He offered two Vietnamese families the plane fare to Hamilton from California and
jobs for the men in his small foundry.