The Well-Publicized Story of the Execution of the Top Al Qaeda Leader Osama Bin Laden - Essay Example

?News English The article we have picked for an analysis of news English is the well-publicised story of the execution of the top al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. This article is a narration of the recent events on the execution, leading to a press release made by the family led by Omar bin Laden, who introduced himself as the “fourth son” of Osama bin Laden. When we say reaction, a move was made by the family to publish a story. Andrew Malcolm picked up the story. The first sentence is the abstract – there was violence committed against the father, whom, as we all know is Osama bin Laden, and the son Omar and the family are reacting to the violence. Time zero is now, when Osama bin Laden, the international terrorist and top leader of the terror organization al Qaeda, has been killed by an elite US Navy special action force, the Zeal. The abstract is a summary of the entire article, which can be summarized here in a few words – that Omar bin Laden accuses the United States government of violating international law in killing their father. The first sentence, including the title, is full of meaning, that assuming that we do not know the man bin Laden, we can understand that violence was used against violence, that bin Laden was a violent man and that the US government stopped him by killing him. This was followed by S2 which affirms that the man who was killed was an unarmed terrorist leader who was summarily executed by the US government. However, we can also assume that the writer of the essay, which appeared in an online periodical, The Los Angeles Times, assumes in his abstract, that indeed the reader of this article knows Osama bin Laden, the top al Qaeda leader, the mastermind of the bombing of the twin towers of the World Trade Center, in which thousands were killed. The time expression in the story about Omar’s accusation provides a brief explanation of the events that transpired before that fateful day of May 2, 2011. First in S2, there is the statement and reaction of the bin Laden family. Omar’s sentiments clearly showed the immediate past – that he was communicating with his father. The ‘recency’ includes his (and his family’s) doubts over the statement from President Obama that they had killed bin Laden. Although, there is less doubt over the statements of the US government (another assumption), this news story has many underlying stories and sub-stories. We can still follow Bell’s framework on the role of the abstract in this subject of news English. The abstract is the introduction, or it introduces into the main theme or point of the story. The main point or idea of the story is that Omar is complaining and accusing that if indeed President Obama was correct in announcing to the world that they have killed bin Laden, the US government committed an illegal act in doing so. Bell says that double abstracts are common in news English, and this was ‘committed’ in this article – there is an accusation of the illegal act and the fact that Omar’s father may already be dead. There is a second presumption that the US President could have lied in saying that the al Qaeda leader is dead. The presumption is that it could be that Obama was lying, implying that he was using psychological warfare against the members of al Qaeda. It was probably to demoralize the members of the organization, and the United States was winning against the war on terror. The abstract in Bell’s framework also tells that is also linked by time expression, which portrays a cause-and-effect, i.e. Omar bin Laden is accusing the United States after they have killed his father. But there is another presumption, which is if Obama was telling the truth. The headline according to Bell’s framework is an abstract of the abstract, which is just a last-minute insertion by an editor. The ‘real’ abstract is the first sentence by Andrew Malcolm, the author. The attention of the reader is caught by the first abstract, the title, although we are sure, Malcolm’s abstract was the basis of the editor’s title. As usual in news English, there is the absence of time – it is not expressed in the abstract, and of course in the headline. The abstract talks of the past tense – when Omar disagreed with the principle of his father Osama bin Laden in using violence against innocent civilians. It talks of the time when Osama was still alive and the recent announcement of President Obama about the success of the mission in killing bin Laden. The publication of bin Laden’s sentiment is also a reaction to the president’s announcement of the “execution”. This reaction stated that well known ‘criminals’ of the past, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein and Serbian and Yugoslav president Slobodan Melosevic were both given the chance to be tried for crimes against humanity, while bin Laden was summarily executed without even given the chance to defend himself. Orientation The orientation of the author in introducing the whole story is done in such a way that some scenes are described as Osama has already been executed. First, time zero here tells us of the present time, now, Osama bin laden is dead, he was executed upon orders of the president of the United States of America, and during a commando operation known as Operation Geronimo. Time zero has many connotations or reactions. An international terrorist wanted by the US government and by other governments is dead and gone. The US president himself did not want to prove or explain except by saying that “bin Laden will not be dealing with us on earth anymore,” or something of the sort. And looking back, it is also sad to remember the term “ground zero”. So our time in this story will go back to the time when the main masterminded of the attacks on the twin towers, bombed down those concrete structures, making the world tremble in fear, and making him the most famous international terrorist the world has ever produced. Time 0 can then be shifted to that time of history when international terrorism was at its peak; this is time -6. Time -6 although not clearly told in the story as the time of the attacks, is presented in S13, when Osama bin Laden was the top al Qaeda mastermind who killed thousands of Americans. The attacks on the World Trade Center and the pentagon on September 11, 2001 have made it all too clear that terrorists and terrorist organizations have the capability to wreak havoc on an innocent population with weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Time -6 also made clear that there was a wide spectrum of potential threats that do not involve the threat of over attacks by states using long-range missiles or conventional military forces. Such threats can include covert attacks by terrorists. Bin Ladin admitted this in one of his video clips shown over Al Jazerra television network as he was motioning his right hand like a jetliner making a suicide attack over a building. The story goes back to the time even beyond the September 11 attacks against the United States, the bombing of the twin towers, the Pentagon building, and the failed attempt of the jetliner to proceed to President Bush’s country retreat in Pennsylvania. The time goes back to the time of Saddam Hussein and before that, the time of the Serbian president, Slobodan Milosevic. This is represented by time -6, which means it was a long time ago. Then, time comes back again to the present one, or what Bell calls the ‘recency’, where Andrew Malcolm, the author, gets back to Omar admitting in his press release that he is the “fourth-born son of his father”. Sentence 9 also tells us of the ‘recency’ of the events in which Omar always sent messages to his father telling him that he was against violence and that he should not attack civilians and other people. This ‘recency’ can be assumed of the fact that Omar was telling in the press release that he was always in contact with his father before the purported attack and execution by the US Navy Zeal. If he was always in contact with his father, then it could not be true that the US Navy could have killed his father; therefore, he was asking for photographs, video clips and conclusive evidence so that Obama’s stories could be believed. Again the time goes back to the present, i.e. after the US Navy operation, the killing and the announcement of the death of bin Laden. This is represented by time +3 in S10 when U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. spoke and defended the legality of the U.S. Navy Zeal’s attack and summary execution of Osama bin Laden. Holder said that it was lawful considering that Osama bin Laden was the mastermind and head of the Al Qaeda terrorist organization which conducted the attack against the United States on September 11, 2001 that killed thousands of American lives, including many other nationalities present during that horrific day. This time in the story is presented by time -6, the infamous September 11 attacks. Holder further justified the execution of bin Laden by saying that bin Laden himself admitted that he did it in one of his video propagandas after that incident. This story or article of Andrew Malcolm has no calendar time in which the events occurred or unfolded. The calendar time was only shown in the web page, but Bell’s framework tells us that this is the deictic today as insinuated in the first lines of the story. Like any other story, the events are told as the characters and happenings are described but there was no exact calendar date mentioned. Bell argued that this is common in news stories. While there are no exact dates, the “who, what, when and where and how” are clearly insinuated to impress upon the reader that this happened and needed further investigation and scrutiny. It can also be explained here that this story was taken from an online journal with a URL, which has a date and time in the publication. Conclusion Our example of news English that tells the story of the execution of Osama bin laden, the top leader of the international terrorist organization, is complete with abstract, orientation, complicating action, evaluation, resolution, and the final coda. While the article did not fully tell what happened, the sentences from S1 to S14 are told and explained, although not in a chronological manner. The chronology are chopped in such a way that it cannot bore the reader. For example, the time starts with Omar accusing the United States government through President Obama of violating international law by committing violence against violence. Then, the story goes back to the killing, to the time of the September 11 attacks, and finally the justification over the summary execution. Appendix- the news article, condensed from: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2011/05/osama-bin-ladens-son-full-text.html) Figure 1 News article titled: “Osama bin Laden's son says U.S. broke international law 'if' his father is dead”, by Andrew Malcolm (Los Angeles Times, online, available from http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2011/05/osama-bin-ladens-son-full-text.html) Time expressions in the story about Osama bin Laden’s son’s accusation against the United States Figure 2 Reference Bell, A., 2007. Text, time, and technology in news English. In S. Goodman, et al., Eds., Redesigning English. The Open University: Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group). Malcolm, A., 2011. Osama bin Laden's son says U.S. broke international law 'if' his father is dead. Available from: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2011/05/osama-bin-ladens-son-full-text.html [Accessed 11 May 2011] Read More