Presidential War Rhetoric. Kriegsrhetorik Amerikanischer Präsidenten am Beispiel des Irakkonflikts

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2004 im Fachbereich Medien / Kommunikation - Medien und Politik, Pol. Kommunikation, Note: 1,3, University of Sunderland (School of Arts, Design, Media and Culture), Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: Politics is connected with power. The acquisition of power, and the enforcement of a political belief can be achieved in a number of ways. One of the most obvious methods is through physical coercion. Under despotic and military regimes (for instance the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler), those in power often control people by using force. But also democracies can utilize language as a force to manipulate, influence and control people. In this assignment I will illustrate how language is employed to achieve political aims; particularly I will show how even nowadays politicians adopt original Greek rules of speech to increase the impact of their ideas and to persuade their audience of the validity of the politician's basic claims. Rhetoric is the 'ancient skill of elegant and persuasive speaking' or the 'art of persuasive discourse'. And persuasion 'is an art, primarily verbal, by which you get somebody to do what you want and make him at the same time, think that this is what he wanted to do all the time'. The Greek philosopher Plato and Socrates believed rhetoric is the 'mother of lies... distorts and conceals the truth' and people who are insincere in their motives manipulate their audience. To examine the war rhetoric throughout U.S. history I will use three speeches of George H. Bush ('While The World Waited', 1991), Bill Clinton ('Radio Address Of The President To The Nation', 1998) and the ultimatum speech of George W. Bush ('President Says Saddam Hussein Must Leave Iraq Within 48 Hours', 2003), which opened the attack against the Iraq. All of the speeches are characterized through the long traditional presidential war rhetoric of America. They realize their aims and objectives through rhetorical argumentations and linguistic persuasive devices that are similar in all three speeches. In the first part of this assignment I will show how the presidents clarify reasons and define purposes of war, explain and justify their sanctions and create a 'friend and foe image'. Subsequently I will have a closer look to rhetorical figures and linguistic strategies that are employed by the presidents.