The Bush administration was remarkably successful in dominating the debate over why we had to go to war with Iraq, but it would soon be faced with the more daunting task of winning the monumental rhetorical struggle over how to write the script of the Iraq War endgame. We examine the twists and turns of the discursive battle over the war's denouement as it played out against the backdrop of the war on terror, and we conclude that while Bush failed to win the argument that Iraq was one with our fight against terrorism, his underlying worldview that we must confront terrorist evil through global military engagement remains an important component of Obama adminstration rhetoric.

Autorentext

ERIKA G. KING is Professor of Political Science at Grand Valley State University, USA.
ROBERT WELLS is Professor of Political Science at Thiel College.

Inhalt
Introduction Constructing the Endgame Narrative for a Different Kind of War Dominating the Public War Discourse Challenging Bush's Why We Fight Narrative Sounding an Official Warning Bell on Mounting Terrorism and Civil War Crafting reactions to the Midterm Elections and the Iraq Study Group Report Interpreting the Consequences of the Troop Surge Spinning and Debating the Petraeus/Crocker Report Bush's Endgame Narrative Conclusion