We are Americans: om retoriken bakom USA:s krig mot terrorismen

Sammanfattning: 9/11 – 2001. 3000 Americans have died as a direct result of the al-Qaida sanctioned terror attacks against the USA. The Americans were in tears, tears that soon would emerge into anger, hatred and determination – Determination to once and for all eliminate the terrorists that performed these despicable acts against their beautiful, free nation. But also, as the President proclaims, to spread the ideologies and the words of Freedom, Human Rights and Democracy in a region where totalitarian governments and fanatic beliefs have harassed the population for centuries. International Revenge has been a central concept throughout the writing of this essay – what are the causes of it and was revenge the main engine behind the creation of ex-president George W. Bush’s now infamous ”Global War on Terror” or was the ”Global War on Terror” just a legitimate reaction on the horrendous events that shook the world on 9/11? The purpose with this essay has been to enlighten a new aspect of international relations through a cluster criticism analysis of three U.S presidential speeches, from 2001, 2006 and 2011. The focus has been on the concepts of terror, freedom and justice. Oded Löwenheim and Gadi Heimann, whose research has led to a list of variables to detect a states proneness to seek revenge, has helped to understand the results of the analysis. My main purpose with this essay has been to get a deeper understanding of how the ”Global War on Terror” was perceived from inside a rhetorical, presidential context and if revenge was a main engine behind the laws and the reactions that surfaced after the 9/11-attacks.