An Analysis of Post 9/11 Presidential Rhetoric - Lead-up to the Iraq War

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. The Relevance of Presidential Rhetoric

3. The Rhetoric of the Bush Administration and the Circumstances

3.1 The September 11, 2001, Connection

3.2 The President’s Discourse

4. Corpus-based Analysis of Post 9/11 Presidential Speeches

4.1 Speech Selection

4.2 Analysis of Terminology Occurrence

4.3 Concordance Analysis

5. Conclusion

6. References

Research Objectives and Key Topics

The primary objective of this paper is to examine how the Bush administration used rhetoric to shape public opinion and build support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq by consistently linking the country and Saddam Hussein to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

• The rhetorical strategies of the George W. Bush administration.
• The role of presidential power in shaping political language.
• Corpus-based analysis of presidential speeches between 2001 and 2003.
• The construction of a 'good versus evil' dichotomy to justify military action.
• The impact of media coverage and the 'rally around the flag' effect on public opinion.

Excerpt from the Book

Summary of Chapters

1. Introduction: Presents the background of the Iraq War and outlines the paper's goal to explore how President Bush gained public support for the invasion despite the lack of evidence regarding weapons of mass destruction.

2. The Relevance of Presidential Rhetoric: Discusses the constitutional and political power of the U.S. President to influence public opinion and legislation through major speeches and media communication.

3. The Rhetoric of the Bush Administration and the Circumstances: Analyzes the national and global context following the 9/11 attacks and how the administration strategically linked Iraq to terrorism to build a case for war.

4. Corpus-based Analysis of Post 9/11 Presidential Speeches: Details the creation of a corpus of presidential speeches and uses linguistic analysis to demonstrate how specific terminology was used to build a narrative of threat.

5. Conclusion: Summarizes the findings, asserting that the rhetorical strategy of linking Iraq to 9/11 was fundamental in securing public approval for the invasion.

6. References: Provides a comprehensive list of sources, literature, and speech archives used for the analysis.

Keywords

Presidential rhetoric, George W. Bush, Iraq War, September 11, terrorism, Saddam Hussein, corpus linguistics, discourse analysis, public opinion, propaganda, war on terror, political communication, rhetoric, weapons of mass destruction, foreign policy.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the core focus of this thesis?

The thesis explores how George W. Bush's rhetorical strategies were instrumental in creating public support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq by linking the Iraqi regime to the events of September 11.

Which specific themes are addressed in the work?

Central themes include the 'good versus evil' dichotomy, the manipulation of fear, the 'rally around the flag' effect, and the linguistic simplification of complex political issues.

What is the main research question?

The study asks how a U.S. president not known for oratorical brilliance succeeded in convincing the American public that invading Iraq was the 'right thing to do'.

What methodology does the author use?

The author employs a corpus-based approach, analyzing 63 presidential speeches delivered between September 2001 and March 2003, using concordance software to track the frequency and association of key terms.

What content is covered in the main section?

The main section covers the institutional relevance of presidential rhetoric, the political atmosphere after 9/11, and a detailed linguistic analysis of how the administration bridged the gap between the terrorist attacks and the situation in Iraq.

Which keywords best characterize the research?

Key terms include presidential rhetoric, 9/11, Iraq War, Saddam Hussein, corpus linguistics, and public opinion shaping.

How did the author define the 'good versus evil' dichotomy in Bush's speeches?

The author argues that Bush cast the United States as the 'good' victim and labeled any nation or entity not aligning with American policy as 'evil', effectively removing any middle ground for political debate.

What significance does the 'magic rule of seven' have in the analysis?

The author cites this psycholinguistic rule to explain how Bush's speechwriters likely structured his rhetoric to ensure that the audience could easily process and retain his key messaging.

How does the author interpret the frequent use of the word 'peace' before the war?

The author suggests that using the word 'peace' in the immediate lead-up to the invasion functioned as a euphemism designed to distract the public from the negative associations typically linked to the word 'war'.

What does the concordance analysis reveal about the term 'weapons of mass destruction'?

The analysis indicates that the phrase was used with absolute certainty, rather than as a tentative claim, reinforcing the administration's misleading narrative that Iraq possessed illegal weapons.