The “Us vs. Them” Dichotomy in President Bush’s West Point Speech (2002) and the Discursive Construction of Iraqi Threat: Serious Implications for International law
Benmerabet, N. (2022). The “Us vs. Them” Dichotomy in President Bush’s West Point Speech (2002) and the Discursive Construction of Iraqi Threat: Serious Implications for International law. EKB Journal Management System, 3(4), 45-62. doi: 10.21608/tjhss.2022.266935
Naime Benmerabet. "The “Us vs. Them” Dichotomy in President Bush’s West Point Speech (2002) and the Discursive Construction of Iraqi Threat: Serious Implications for International law". EKB Journal Management System, 3, 4, 2022, 45-62. doi: 10.21608/tjhss.2022.266935
Benmerabet, N. (2022). 'The “Us vs. Them” Dichotomy in President Bush’s West Point Speech (2002) and the Discursive Construction of Iraqi Threat: Serious Implications for International law', EKB Journal Management System, 3(4), pp. 45-62. doi: 10.21608/tjhss.2022.266935
Benmerabet, N. The “Us vs. Them” Dichotomy in President Bush’s West Point Speech (2002) and the Discursive Construction of Iraqi Threat: Serious Implications for International law. EKB Journal Management System, 2022; 3(4): 45-62. doi: 10.21608/tjhss.2022.266935

The “Us vs. Them” Dichotomy in President Bush’s West Point Speech (2002) and the Discursive Construction of Iraqi Threat: Serious Implications for International law

Transcultural Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences
Volume 3, Issue 4, October 2022, Page 45-62  XML PDF (731.85 K)
Document Type: Original Article
DOI: 10.21608/tjhss.2022.266935
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Author
Naime Benmerabetorcid
Department of English, Faculty of Letters, Social and Human Sciences, University of Badji Mokhtar-Annaba, Algeria
Abstract
This article utilizes Norman Fairclough’s three-dimensional framework of Critical Discourse Analysis to unveil how President Bush in his West Point speech (June 2002) drew upon the “us vs. them” dichotomy to stigmatize, repudiate, securitize and ultimately distance and demonize Iraqi regime and its nuclear ambitions. By deploying these linguistic structures, infused with ideological messages, President Bush managed to portray the alleged threat posed by Iraqi regime as being the incarnation of absolute evil for the purpose of justifying and even naturalizing recourse to extreme and unorthodox measures to curb it. The results of the critical analysis of the linguistic structures of the speech point to how President Bush manipulated pronominal choices to advance his political and security undertakings against Iraqi regime in total defiance to hard evidence that contradicted his claims and in utter contravention of international legality. The core findings of this study center on the demonstration of how the pronominal choices operated by President Bush in the speech under scrutiny were instrumental in rationalizing, normalizing and even legitimizing unorthodox and unprecedented modi operandi in US political and security policies mainly towards states like Iraq.
Keywords
CDA; “us vs. them” dichotomy; G.W. Bush’s administration; Iraqi regime; international law
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