Abstract

International politics often ismanifested in the form of war. Yet, on more occasions, it is manifested as talk and rhetoric. In fact, language matters in international relations, and it is central to political analysis, affecting the process and consequences of political p ractice. This article, through an analysis of U.S.President George W.Bush's discourse of a“call to arms”in a social/ cultural context, attemp ts to understand how the U. S. government laid the foundation for the war in Iraq after“9. 11”by manipulating a sequence of political discourses. It advances the assump tion that the Bush administration used political discourse as a strategic instrument in American policy toward Iraq, and, by describing Saddam’s regime as an imminent“enemy, ”“evil doer, ”and“criminal, ”the United States was able to make its actions in changing the regime of a sovereign state seem“legitimate”and“justifiable. ”

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