18th Annual Student Research Conference
Social Science
A Change in Rhetoric: A Shift in Purpose for the American Mission in Iraq
Ryan S. Lewis
Dr. Paul Parker, Faculty Mentor
The events of September 11th changed America’s foreign policy. The subsequent invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were to prevent future terrorist attacks on America. In the case of Iraq, the administration claimed that Saddam Hussein’s regime had to be removed due to its obtaining of weapons of mass destruction. When no evidence of WMDs was found, the Administration appeared to refocus the American mission in Iraq to freeing the Iraqi people. In this paper, I will address the Administration’s shift in rhetoric concerning the mission in two possible directions. Was the shift an attempt to justify a massive foreign policy mistake? Or, was the shift always a part of the Administration’s plan? By looking at the Bush Administration’s speeches from the invasion in Iraq on March 19, 2003 to the admittance of no WMDs on April 12, 2004, the refocusing of the mission in Iraq can be better understood.
Keywords: Rhetoric, Iraq, War, Bush Adminstration, WMDs, jusitification, Terrorism, Presidential Speech
Topic(s):Political Science
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 45-2
Location: VH 1416
Time: 2:30