Metaphor as rhetoric
Newspaper Op/Ed debate of the prelude to the 2003 Iraq War
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12877072 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ahmed Sahlane (0000-0003-3989-6089, King Abdulaziz University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2012 |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 154-171 |
| Publication date | 2012-12-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Critical Discourse Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1740-5904 • E-ISSN: 1740-5912 |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17405904.2012.736397 |
| OpenAlex | W2009977093 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 15 |
The present study examines how the build-up to the US invasion of Iraq in March 2003 was metaphorically (re)constructed in pro- and anti-war newspaper opinion/editorial (op/ed) discourse. Drawing on methodological insights from critical discourse analysis and pragma-dialectical argumentation theory, the fallacious discussion used in the pro-war op/eds to build up a ‘moral/legal case’ for war on Iraq, based on adversarial (rather than dialogical) argumentation, is problematised. An investigation of how the US official perspective about the ‘legitimacy’ of attacking Iraq has managed forcefully to creep into the US–British mainstream newspaper op/ed argumentation through the manipulative use of metaphor is explored here. This fallacious derailment of the discussion is countered by the anti-war op/ed metaphorical argumentation. The op/ed articles analysed here thematise key controversial issues regarding the alleged Iraqi possession of Weapons of Mass Destruction, Saddam's links to Al-Qaeda and the legitimacy of the US ‘preemptive’ war without the authorisation of the UN Security Council. The political debate of the US run-up to Iraq War was a contest between metaphors and a battle over imagery. This article illustrates how the deployment of metaphors with high public resonance is a useful rhetorical tool to fallaciously advance contentious claims
Argumentation theory · Battle · Epistemology · Legitimacy · Linguistics · Media studies · Metaphor · Newspaper · Political science · Politics · Rhetoric · Rhetorical question · Sociology · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · History · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Law · Philosophy · Rhetoric and Communication Studies
Argumentation and fallacy in newspaper op / ed coverage of the prelude to the invasion of Iraq
Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis
Higher-Order Strategic Maneuvering in Argumentation
Islamic Peril
The Media's Role in a Clash of Misconceptions
Talking War
The Case for Metaphor in Political Reasoning and Cognition
Strategic Manoeuvring in Argumentative Discourse
Disease Incarnate
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.45 |
| Citation span | 2015 - 2024 (10) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |