Title of Project :“The Discursive (Re)Construction of the 2003 Iraq War in Western and Arab Print Media: A Comparative Critical Discourse Analytic Approach”
Project Description :
Using opinion/editorial (op/ed) pieces from Western and Arab quality newspapers, the present study examined the ‘debate’ between the advocates and opponents of military action as a plausible solution for the 2003 Iraq conflict. The study problematised the fallacious ‘justification discourse’ deployed 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 tyranny) to justify the pending invasion of Iraq. Their arguments intertextually resonated with Bush’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 simply bolstered the set of ‘truth claims’ and presuppositions held by the Bush administration. The questions about Bush’s motives, and legality of the war were suspended. Conversely, anti-war op/ed arguers dismissed Bush’s ‘neo-imperialistic’ reasoning and called into question the logic of militarist ‘humanitarianism’ by demonstrating that brute force and daylight ‘plunder,’ dressed up in moral garb and in the language of a ‘noble ideal,’ were merely part of a long U.S. colonialist tradition that glorified the allegedly noble role of the Global Patriarch, whose ‘mission civilisatrice’ was to rescue distant cultural others from their dictatorial regimes.
Other Information :
English Language Instructor ELI, Continuing Studies, UBC (Intensive English Language Program) Vancouver, 07 July 2008 to 15 September, 2008
French/English Language teacher Westside Prep High School, Vancouver, BC, 26 July 2007 to 30 July 2008
University Lecturer
King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia, August 2001 to July 2007
Senior English Language Instructor & Supervisor
Omani Ministry of Education, Secondary Education, September 1994 to June 2001
EFL Instructor,
Ministry of Education, Lycee Zerktouni, Agadir, Morocco, 15 September 1989 September 1994
English Language Instructor
Ibn Zohr University, Agadir, Morocco, September1990 to September 1994
ESP Instructor
Higher Institute of Applied Technology (ITA),Ministry of Employment, Agadir, Morocco, September 1991 to July 1994
If you would like to learn more about how we can help further your studies and career opportunities, please contact us.
2124-550 Cottonwood Ave., Coquitlam, BC, V3J 2S1, Canada
Project Description :
Using opinion/editorial (op/ed) pieces from Western and Arab quality newspapers, the present study examined the ‘debate’ between the advocates and opponents of military action as a plausible solution for the 2003 Iraq conflict. The study problematised the fallacious ‘justification discourse’ deployed 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 tyranny) to justify the pending invasion of Iraq. Their arguments intertextually resonated with Bush’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 simply bolstered the set of ‘truth claims’ and presuppositions held by the Bush administration. The questions about Bush’s motives, and legality of the war were suspended. Conversely, anti-war op/ed arguers dismissed Bush’s ‘neo-imperialistic’ reasoning and called into question the logic of militarist ‘humanitarianism’ by demonstrating that brute force and daylight ‘plunder,’ dressed up in moral garb and in the language of a ‘noble ideal,’ were merely part of a long U.S. colonialist tradition that glorified the allegedly noble role of the Global Patriarch, whose ‘mission civilisatrice’ was to rescue distant cultural others from their dictatorial regimes.
Other Information :
English Language Instructor
ELI, Continuing Studies, UBC (Intensive English Language Program) Vancouver, 07 July 2008 to 15 September, 2008
French/English Language teacher
Westside Prep High School, Vancouver, BC, 26 July 2007 to 30 July 2008
University Lecturer
King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia, August 2001 to July 2007
Senior English Language Instructor & Supervisor
Omani Ministry of Education, Secondary Education, September 1994 to June 2001
EFL Instructor,
Ministry of Education, Lycee Zerktouni, Agadir, Morocco, 15 September 1989 September 1994
English Language Instructor
Ibn Zohr University, Agadir, Morocco, September 1990 to September 1994
ESP Instructor
Higher Institute of Applied Technology (ITA),Ministry of Employment, Agadir, Morocco, September 1991 to July 1994
If you would like to learn more about how we can help further your studies and career opportunities, please contact us.