Current Event Critique...

Often, authors will subtly express their opinion or feelings through their writing. This commonly takes place in current event articles because there is so much controversy and different opinions surrounding them. Readers will sometimes be swayed to one way of thinking by the way an author presents the information. Ron Suskind, the author of "The Unofficial Story of the al-Qaeda 14", attempts to sway the reader into thinking that the Bush Administration is not looking out for the best interests of the American people. Right away, in the introduction, he states that "their torture by the CIA was wrong..." (their, referring to the al-Qaeda 14). Suskind clearly questions and does not support the Bush Administration, which is shown in this article. The author could possibly be a Democrat, or he could be angered by the war in Iraq. Suskind states that the Administration is fighting the "so-called war on terrorism" in the wrong way. He obviously doesn't support the war, because he doesn't believe in it. The author writes about Bush's "early errors" such as how the U.S. "complicated matters" by proclaiming Abu Zubaydah as an operational master, rather than the facilitator he really was. This shows that Suskind does not back Bush or his judgments. He also writes that the government "refuses to release" Abu Zubyadah's diary. He chose the harsh word, refuse, indicating stubbornness or unwillingness, instead of a fair word such as declined. Also, Ron Suskind starts off one of his paragraphs with the phrase, "to be fair" which points toward the fact that he realizes he is being unfair in his evaluation of the Bush Administration and their actions toward the al-Qaeda 14. Then, he goes on to say that Bush failed and supported unnecessary costs for interrogation. These key words show that the author does not approve of the way Bush is handling this situation. Suskind also puts many words or phrases in parentheses and writes so-called in front of many things he doubts. For example, he writes " 'high value' captives" who are at the center of a "so-called" global drama. Ron Suskind uses many persuasive words and phrases to sway a reader to believe that the Bush Administration makes bad choices and isn't looking out for Americans. At a quick glance, one might say that this is an informative article on the al-Qaeda 14, but upon closer examination, it is obvious that Suskind has strong opinions wich are expressed through this article, "The Unofficial Story of the al-Qaeda 14".