c9: (explosion)
c9 ([personal profile] c9) wrote2004-03-22 12:33 pm

...on a more serious note.

The Globe & Mail website today features a story about the helicopter missile attack in the Gaza Strip outside a mosque yesterday, which killed the leader of Hamas, a fairly radical Palestinian group. Most agree that this will lead to violent retaliation by some.

The headline currrently running on the story? "Israel Assasinates Hamas Leader."

My question for today: is "assasinates" an inherently biased, and therefore judgemental, word? Should they have said "killed" ? Is the Globe putting editorial bias on their front page?

To me it feels like they are. But the more I think about it, the less I think it. It's a thing that makes me go hmmmm.

UPDATE: From CBC's article, which uses "kill":

Israeli helicopters launched three rockets at the wheelchair-bound cleric and his bodyguards as they emerged from a mosque.

...that sounds almost coldly clinical. 'They then shot the quadriplegic man four times. And jumped on the remains. For an hour.'