On September 20, 2001, nine days after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, the President of America at the time, George W. Bush gave a speech to address the Congress and the nation. The speech recounted the events past briefly, identified the cause of the event and the perpetrators involved: it also consoled the American people and identified heroes who discharged their duties well. The speech was ended with a promise to the American people to ‘bring justice to the enemies of freedom’.
The speech was well crafted to induce a specific action from the American people: this was the general purpose of the speech. However, the specific action of the speech was to induce the American people to support the idea of war against terrorism. The speech was clearly meant to persuade the American people to support a war campaign against countries housing the Al Qaeda terrorist groups at the time. The evidence of the findings in law enforcement that was presented to the people in this joint congress speech was flawlessly incorporated in the speech. The parties, groups, and governments responsible were identified and persuading comments incorporated to induce an emotional response in support of the specific response the speech was meant to provoke.
The president congratulated all who stood with America in grief them channeled the emotional turmoil faced by the loss of American citizens. He draws from personal experience when he says: ‘Our grief has turned to anger and anger to resolution’ – to which he points out that the military is funded and ready – ‘delivering $40 billion meet the needs of our military’: this is evidence of statistics provided by Congress. He identifies an ally, the Great Britain, and moves to identify the group responsible for the attacks – Al Qaeda – an isolates it from the Muslim community – ‘perverts the peaceful teachings of Islam’: this is common knowledge. The leader of the group – Usama Bin Laden – is identified and the country housing them – Afghanistan – pointed out: this is information received from American Intelligence documents. Afghanistan is represented as a country controlled by the Taliban, who are influenced by al Qaeda: and is represented as a civilization with archaic and petty ideals (direct observation). The US was portrayed as morally right to intervene by providing humanitarian aid: this is common knowledge. This statement serves to show an effort by the US to reform the country now controlled by the Taliban. Afghanistan is condemned in the speech as complicit in Taliban operations.
The president then moves to provide propaganda by issuing a statement from personal experience: ‘they hate us’; ‘they follow in the path of fascism and Nazism and totalitarianism’; ‘they stand against us because we stand in their way’. At this point, he has presented a major problem of terrorism that has just begun and will not stop without the American intervention: ‘Our war on terror begins with Al Qaida, but it does not end there’. The President, in his speech, presents solutions to the grave scenarios posed. He begins by pledging to direct ‘every resource’ and ‘every necessary weapon of war, to the defeat of the global terror network’: drawn from statistical evidence of military cache. He, however, promises no loss of ‘a single American lost in combat’: also drawn from previous statistics on American casualties in war. He also promises ‘instant retaliation’ that will be ‘isolated strikes’ in the host country in this case Afghanistan. Any doubting Thomas(es) at this point are swayed to agree with his statement that America is not ‘immune from attack.' He concludes his speech by presenting America as a society of principles and calls to the citizens to take the responsibility of upholding those principles: a sentiment of common knowledge drawn from personal experience
This speech was written to induce a response of the American people to sanction war upon its enemies. The speech incorporated elements of personal experience, common knowledge, evidence from Intelligence documentation, and statistics from Congress and American war history casualties. The enemy was identified, their organization and affiliate organizations identified together with the country tolerating their operation. The idea of military intervention to seek justice for the dead was represented to the people accompanied by a warning if action was not taken: America was represented as a country vulnerable to attack. This persuasion was accompanied by the idea of pursuing terrorism ‘where it grows’: the retaliation attack would be carried out in the host country.
References
Tristam, P. (2014, December 17). Full Text: President Bush Declares "War on Terror": Speech to a Joint Session of Congress, Sept. 20, 2001. About News, pp. 1-3.
