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Argumentation and Fallacy in the Justification of the 2003 War on Iraq

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Abstract

The present study examined how the pre-war debate of the US decision to invade Iraq (in March 2003) was discursively constructed in the US/British mainstream newspaper opinion/editorial (op/ed) argumentation. Drawing on theoretical insights from critical discourse analysis and argumentation theory, I problematised the fallacious discussion used in the pro-war op/eds to build up a ‘moral/legal case’ for war on Iraq based on adversarial (rather than dialogical) argumentation. The proponents of war deployed ‘instrumental rationality’ (ends-justify-means reasoning), ‘ethical necessity’ (Bush’s ‘Preemption Doctrine’) and ‘humanitarian virtue’ (the bombing of Iraq to ‘save’ Iraqis from Saddam’s pestilent tyranny) to justify the pending invasion of Iraq. Their arguments intertextually resonated with Bush administration’s ‘war on terror’ rhetoric in a way that created a form of indexical association through ‘recontextualisation’. The type of arguments marshalled by the pro-war op/ed commentators uncritically bolstered the set of US official ‘truth claims’ and ‘presuppositions’.

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Notes

  1. But, the authors also pointed that “morality and legality were marginalized” (ibid.: 20).

  2. Features also contained opinion pieces (Schuetz 2005: 206).

  3. For anti-war argumentation, see Wilson et al. (2012).

  4. For critical discourse analysts, political power and control cannot be divorced from the power of language. “Anything that is said or written about the world is articulated from a position; language is not a clear window, but a refracting, structuring medium” (Fowler 1991: 11).

  5. For example, the depiction of Iraqi men during the war as the main suffering subjects “over-masculinised” post-9/11 America in that the deployed “emasculating discourse” served “the testosterone-ridden military initiative of the US in its bid to demoralize and destroy its enemies and raise the morale of its soldiers” (Youssef 2008: 162).

  6. Like McCarthy, Collin Powell showed up at the UN Security Council with a pile of poor ‘intelligence’ files he claimed would yield irrefutable evidence that Saddam had WMD. These pieces of ‘evidence’, however, were mere speculations based on phone interceptions, satellite pictures of areas beyond the zone under Saddam’s control.

  7. [t]here is one special context where ad ignorantiam is not a fallacious mode of reasoning, namely in the courts” (Woods and Walton 1989: 168). A person is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

  8. This can also be regarded as a form of hasty generalisation (secundum quid).

  9. This “argument from example” is “inherently weak” because it fails to “confirm a claim conclusively” (Walton 1996: 50).

  10. According to the U.S. General Accounting Office (2002) report, while Iraq military expenditures reached about $19 billion per year between 1980 and 1990, by 1995 Iraq military budget was only $1.5 billion (cited in Hartnett and Stengrim 2004: 166).

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Appendix

Appendix

1.1 List of Opinion/Editorials

  1. 1.

    “Uncertain territory,” The Times (London), March 11, Tuesday, Features; 21, 644 words.

  2. 2.

    “Oil, intimidation, rage -why we are really at war,” The Times (London), March 20, 2003, Thursday, Features; 20, 1407 words, Anatole Kaletsky.

  3. 3.

    “Boys with big, loaded toys…I know what that’s about,” The Times (London), March 19, 2003, Wednesday, Features; 22, 613 words, Melissa Kite.

  4. 4.

    “Le Bulldozer takes up tap dancing and learns to love himself,” The Times (London), March 15, 2003, Saturday, Features; 26, 1012 words, Ben Macintyre.

  5. 5.

    “Clare Short, ally of the ‘post-heroic strategists’”, The Times (London), March 5, 2003, Wednesday, Features; 20, 1414 words, Simon Jenkins.

  6. 6.

    “Honesty is the first casualty of the War of Short’s Ego,” The Times (London), March 13, 2003, Thursday, Features; 22, 625 words, Mick Hume.

  7. 7.

    “Uncertain territory,” The Times (London), March 11, 2003, Tuesday, Features; 21, 644 words.

  8. 8.

    “Law, and conscience, demand we go to war,” The Times (London), March 3, 2003, Monday, Features; 18, 1423 words, William Rees-Mogg.

  9. 9.

    “Bush: a policeman with the law on his side,” The Times (London), March 17, 2003, Monday, Features; 18, 1424 words, William Rees-Mogg.

  10. 10.

    “Comment & Analysis: Too much of a good thing: Underlying the US drive to war is a thirst to open up new opportunities for surplus capital,” The Guardian (London), February 18, 2003, Leader Pages, Pg. 17, 1232 words, George Monbiot.

  11. 11.

    “Comment & Analysis: A wilful blindness: Why can’t liberal interventionists see that Iraq is part of a bid to cement US global power?,” The Guardian (London), March 11, 2003, Leader Pages, Pg. 21, 1200 words, George Monbiot.

  12. 12.

    “Threat of war: Wimps, weasels and monkeys—the US media view of perfidious France: Dissenters in Europe become the first victims—of a war of words,” The Guardian (London), February 11, 2003, Home Pages, Pg. 3, 757 words, Gary Younge in New York and Jon Henley in Paris.

  13. 13.

    “Comment & Analysis: Why I had to leave the cabinet: This will be a war without support at home or agreement abroad,” The Guardian (London), March 18, 2003, Leader Pages, Pg. 26, 831 words, Robin Cook.

  14. 14.

    “Comment & Letters: If we are going to intervene, there will have to be rules: Fetishising sovereignty is a dictators’ charter, but Martini interventionism is no better,” The Guardian (London), March 8, 2003, Leader Pages, Pg. 20, 1242 words, Jonathan Freedland.

  15. 15.

    “Comment & Analysis: Want to be a world leader? Learn the vital five steps: Blair, Bush and even Saddam are unwittingly giving a master class in how to govern,” The Guardian (London), March 15, 2003, Leader Pages, Pg. 20, 1244 words, Jonathan Freedland.

  16. 16.

    “Comment & Analysis: Dilemmas of war: It is entirely consistent to be against this invasion—yet hope for a speedy victory in the interests of the Iraqis,” The Guardian (London), March 19, 2003, Leader Pages, Pg. 23, 1157 words, Jonathon Freedland.

  17. 17.

    “Comment & Analysis: Trust Tony’s judgment,” The Guardian (London), March 18, 2003, Leader Pages, Pg. 25, 807 words, Bill Clinton.

  18. 18.

    “Threat of war: Paris: emollient words but no retreat on war: France insists on UN route as criticism reaches new intensity,” The Guardian (London), March 14, 2003, Home Pages, Pg. 4, 826 words, Jon Henley in Paris and Patrick Wintour.

  19. 19.

    “The Calm Before,” The WP, March 12, 2003 Wednesday, Final Edition, Editorial; Pg. A21, 783 words, Michael Kelly, Kuwait City.

  20. 20.

    “Why it’s War, Dear Friend,” The WP, February 9, 2003 Sunday, Final Edition, Editorial; Pg. B07, 734 words, Jim Hoagland.

  21. 21.

    “Thinking Parochially, Acting Selfishly,” The WP, March 13, 2003 Thursday, Final Edition, Editorial; Pg. A23, 813 words, Jim Hoagland.

  22. 22.

    “Hussein’s Shame Strategy,” The WP, March 20, 2003 Thursday, Final Edition, Editorial; Pg. A29, 791 words, Jim Hoagland.

  23. 23.

    “Europe’s Monomania,” The WP, February 23, 2003 Sunday, Final Edition, Editorial; Pg. B07, 788 words, George F. Will.

  24. 24.

    “Permission from the Powerless,” The WP, March 4, 2003 Tuesday, Final Edition, Editorial; Pg. A23, 751 words, George F. Will.

  25. 25.

    “Uncomfortable Silence,” The WP, March 15, 2003 Saturday, Final Edition, Editorial; Pg. A23, 860 words, Colbert I. King.

  26. 26.

    “Ignoring the Unthinkable,” The WP, March 17, 2003 Monday, Final Edition, Editorial; Pg. A19, 844 words, Fred Hiatt.

  27. 27.

    “When War is the Best Medicine,” The WP, March 16, 2003 Sunday, Final Edition, Editorial; Pg. B07, 948 words, Bill Frist.

  28. 28.

    “Bush’s Minimalist Mantra,” The WP, March 11, 2003 Tuesday, Final Edition, Editorial; Pg. A23, 774 words, David S. Broder.

  29. 29.

    “Pearl Harbor 2003?,” The WP, March 18, 2003 Tuesday, Final Edition, Editorial; Pg. A29, 1015 words, Frederick W. Kagan.

  30. 30.

    “The Case for Action,” The WP, February 5, 2003 Wednesday, Final Edition, Editorial; Pg. A22, 1306 words.

  31. 31.

    “Are Inspections Working?” The WP, March 11, 2003 Tuesday, Final Edition, Editorial; Pg. A22, 736 words.

  32. 32.

    “Damage Control,” The WP, March 16, 2003 Sunday, Final Edition, Editorial; Pg. B06, 700 words.

  33. 33.

    “A Question of Will”, The WP, March 18, 2003 Tuesday, Final Edition, Editorial; Pg. A28, 738 words.

  34. 34.

    “First Strike,” The WP, March 20, 2003 Thursday, Final Edition, Editorial; Pg. A28, 571 words.

  35. 35.

    “D-Day,” The NYT, March 19, 2003 Wednesday, Late Edition–Final, Section A; Column 5; Editorial Desk; Pg. 29, 750 words, By Thomas L. Friedman.

  36. 36.

    “The Gridlock Gang,” The NYT, February 26, 2003 Wednesday, Late Edition- Final, Section A; Column 5; Editorial Desk; Pg. 25, 757 words, By Thomas L. Friedman.

  37. 37.

    “Give Freedom a Chance,” The NYT, March 6, 2003 Thursday, Late Edition- Final, Section A; Column 1; Editorial Desk; Pg. 31, 682 words, By William Safire.

  38. 38.

    “President Bush Prepares for War,” The NYT, March 17, 2003 Monday, Late Edition–Final, Section A; Column 1; Editorial Desk; Pg. 22, 464 words.

  39. 39.

    “Power and Leadership; The Real Meaning of Iraq,” The NYT, February 23, 2003 Sunday, Late Edition–Final, Section 4; Column 1; Editorial Desk; Pg. 10, 1724 words.

  40. 40.

    “Today’s War is Against Tomorrow’s Iraq,” The NYT, March 10, 2003 Monday, Late Edition–Final, Section A; Column 1; Editorial Desk; Pg. 19, 1034 words, By Philip Bobbitt.

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Sahlane, A. Argumentation and Fallacy in the Justification of the 2003 War on Iraq. Argumentation 26, 459–488 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10503-012-9265-8

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