Loose cannons

Immovable

"The Palestinian leader is seen to be just as immovable as his Israeli opposite." — ABC correspondent Jill Colgan, 7.30 Report, April 15, after earlier noting that "Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has been held under siege by Israeli troops for 18 days".

Siege

"At the same time [US Secretary of State Colin Powell] appeared to acknowledge that Israel had clear problems in pulling out of some areas, including Bethlehem, where negotiations are still under way to solve a two-week-old siege around the Church of the Nativity, the traditional birthplace of Jesus." — Sydney Morning Herald, April 18, giving the impression that it is Israeli troops who are under siege, rather than Palestinian resistance fighters.

Altruistic response

"I like to tell people in these speeches I'm giving, that I can't imagine what went through the mind [sic] of the killers. They must have thought we were so materialistic, so self-absorbed, that all we were going to do was file a lawsuit." — US President George "The Crusader" Bush, April 16, on why he killed more than 3000 Afghan civilians in response to the September 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

Compassionate conservative

"I saw the ABC's Four Corners program last night [which detailed how navy personnel used cattle prods and capsicum spray on asylum seekers], I watched every bit of it and I think even the most biased person against the government's policy would have to acknowledge that the men and women of our defence forces did a magnificent job." — Prime Menzies John Howard, April 16.

From Green Left Weekly, April 24, 2002.

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From GLW issue 489