The results of this study demonstrate that presidential rhetoric influences public opinion regarding key issues; in this instance, public opinion concerning invasion of a sovereign nation. Specifically, the results indicate that the volume of Bush administration rhetoric regarding Iraq increased after 9/11, and the tone of such rhetoric became more punitive and communitarian after 9/11, as expected. Also, increased volume of rhetoric from administrative sources (particularly President Bush) preceding Gallup Polls increased the likelihood of public support of invading Iraq. Certain rhetorically powerful words such as "evil" were shown to increase support of invasion.

"Mass Deception argues that the George W. Bush administration manufactured public support for the war on Iraq."--Page 4 of cover.

Weapons of Mass Deception reveals: How the Iraq war was sold to the American public through professional P.R. strategies. "The First Casualty": Lies that were told related to the Iraq war. Euphemisms and jargon related to the Iraq war, e.g. "shock and awe," "Operation Iraqi Freedom," "axis of evil," "coalition of the willing," etc. "War as Opportunity": How the war on terrorism and the war on Iraq have been used as marketing hooks to sell products and policies that have nothing to do with fighting terrorism. "Brand America": The efforts of Charlotte Beers and other U.S. propaganda campaigns designed to win hearts overseas. "The Mass Media as Propaganda Vehicle": How news coverage followed Washington's lead and language. The book includes a glossary — "Propaganda: A User's Guide" — and resources to help Americans sort through the deceptions to see the strings behind Washington's campaign to sell the Iraq war to the public.

Denial and Deception: A Study of the Bush Administration's Rhetorical Case for Invading Iraq delivers a refreshingly objective snapshot of the relationship between President George W. Bush's misleading statements, public opinion, and the war in Iraq. Using statistical analysis, Alan Kennedy-Shaffer presents the first academic study of President Bush's efforts to bully the nation into invading Iraq and why the White House no longer controls public opinion. By mapping the major rhetorical and military developments in the war in Iraq, Kennedy-Shaffer paint a contextual picture of the Administration's rhetoric and the impact of casualty rates on public opinion. This book is essential reading for every scholar of presidential rhetoric and public opinion in an era of denial and deception by the President of the United States.

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2009 in the subject American Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1,0, University of Hildesheim (English Department), language: English, abstract: On the morning of May 1st, 2003 President George W. Bush landed on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln off the coast of San Diego, California, announcing from its deck that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended" (George W. Bush, May 1st, 2003). On the prominent banner behind him, it said: "Mission Accomplished". The war had only begun one and a half months prior to this event and currently (October, 2009) American troops are still deployed and involved in combat in Iraq. The mission of the Iraq war was certainly not accomplished on May 1, 2003. What the Bush Administration had accomplished, was something else, however: they convinced the majority of the American people of the necessity of this war, which was reflected in polls, at that time. According to the Gallup Poll, 75% of all Americans approved of sending American troops to Iraq in March, 2003 (Gallup, 2009). Americans were told that the Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and, therefore, was a threat to the United States. However, to date, no weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq, although their alleged existence was one of the main reasons for going to war. The Bush Administration managed to make the vast majority of Americans believe this false assumption. The goal of this paper is to explore how a U.S. president, who was not considered a good speaker, nevertheless succeeded in convincing the American citizens that going to war was the 'right thing to do'. In this paper, it will, first, be briefly outlined what role presidential rhetoric plays, then the post-9/11 rhetoric of the Bush Administration and its circumstances will be examined. An attempt will be made to prove that the rhetoric of the Bush Administration was the key to the high level of support from the U.S. popula

Since 9/11, a new configuration of power situated at the core of the executive branch of the U.S. government has taken hold. In Crimes of Power & States of Impunity, Michael Welch takes a close look at the key historical, political, and economic forces shaping the country's response to terror. Welch continues the work he began in Scapegoats of September 11th and argues that current U.S. policies, many enacted after the attacks, undermine basic human rights and violate domestic and international law. He recounts these offenses and analyzes the system that sanctions them, offering fresh insight into the complex relationship between power and state crime. Welch critically examines the unlawful enemy combatant designation, Guantanamo Bay, recent torture cases, and collateral damage relating to the war in Iraq. This book transcends important legal arguments as Welch strives for a broader sociological interpretation of what transpired early this century, analyzing the abuses of power that jeopardize our safety and security.

There were two wars going on in Iraq--one fought with armies of soldiers, bombs, and fearsome military force. The other was fought alongside it with cameras, satellites, armies of journalists, and propaganda techniques. One war was rationalized as an effort to find and disarm WMDs--Weapons of Mass Destruction; the other was carried out by even more powerful WMDs, Weapons of Mass Deception. Veteran journalist and media watcher Danny Schechter, a former ABC and CNN producer, monitored and now analyzes the cheerleading for a war in which reporting was sanitized, staged, and suppressed. The author of Media Wars: News at a Time of Terror, The More You Watch the Less You Know, and News Dissector, brings an insider''s knowledge based on thirty years in journalism with an outsider''s perspective to critiquing media coverage. Throughout the war he was "self-embedded" at Mediachannel.org, the world''s largest online media issues network. Schechter''s insightful, wide-ranging critique of the American media''s war coverage targets the way in which a virtual merger between the Pentagon and the media produced a war spectacle that the American public was primed to see, media collusion in the campaign to discredit the UN, "rightwing liberation theology" as war propaganda, the cozy relationship between news anchors and retired officers hired as military analysts, the controversies over Peter Arnett and Geraldo Rivera, the looting of Baghdad, the lack of media focus on civilian casualties, the disparities in coverage between U.S. and foreign media, and more. Schechter''s disturbing indictment of the major media as purveyors of infotainment instead of news will serve as a wake-up call to journalists, media critics, and everyone who cares about a well-informed citizenry as the basis of democracy.

For a principled refutation of the 9/11 propaganda myth in all its parts, Tarpley's work is indispensable. This new, fifth edition adds a significant new dimension. Tarpley's documentation of a comprehensive array of 9/11 drills may prove as revolutionary as the thesis of controlled demolition - perhaps even more so. Many people have been unable to see that 9/11 was a false flag. They may seem immune to physical facts like the free-fall speed of the towers, as they take refuge in a lack of engineering qualifications. No math skills are needed to grasp the more familiar, common-sense fact that an act that is rehearsed is also staged. Moreover, when we learn how drills are essential to conduit such operations, we can recognize many types of false flags, such as the London bombings, and not only building collapses. Finally, wider public awareness of the dangerous workings of drills could help prevent terror operations, by making them too difficult to carry out with impunity. The authoritative work on 9/11 and state-sponsored false-flag terrorism. 9/11 Synthetic Terror is the only book to present a working model for the event - a network of moles, patsies, paramilitary pros, privatized intelligence assets and corrupt media corporations. We see how this enormous provocation was successfully executed and exploited as war propaganda. This new, fifth edition reveals a whole new dimension of explosive facts for the first time: the enormous array of drills in which the US defense apparatus rehearsed every aspect of the 9/11 operation. Author Webster Tarpley presents the corpus of 9/11 research - such as the controlled demolition of the three WTC towers - from the perspective of a veteran intelligence expert and historian. The exploit is placed in the geopolitical context of oligarchy and imperialism - in the tradition of precedents such as the Gunpowder Plot, the USS Maine, the Strategy of Tension, and other historically decisive state-sponsored terror subterfuges.