Rhetorical Analysis Of Letter To George Bush's War Against Iraq

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Rhetorical Analysis This letter was written by U.S President, George Bush on 9 Jan 1991, to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in order to justify the reasons for an outbreak of war against Iraq in case the country does not withdraw from Kuwait and does not comply with the UN Security Council resolution 678. Although only written to the Iraqi President, the letter addresses to the world to give the cause of a future action due to noncompliance. The writer’s thesis can be seen at the start of the text, where he clearly mentions a probable outcome, that is, war, if Iraq does not surrender. Thereby grasping the attention of the reader and develops curiosity to determine a way how war can be prevented and whether there is any logical reason for the…show more content…
This is done just to create an impression that the world is against Iraq. However one should consider the validity of presenting such a support. Firstly, where the writer says, “some people…” it is a use of fallacy (false authority). Moreover he does not give proper understandable reasons of why is it appropriate to take over Kuwait; rather he merely states the population which agrees to the writer’s idea. One needs to know the rationale behind that agreement. Also, even if Iraqi president refuses the ultimatum, George Bush assumes that U.S will be harsh. That may not necessarily be the case. Despite giving a poor argument throughout most of the letter, there are some supporting evidences so that the writer can give justification of his action. An example of this is when he informs the President that Arab and Muslim countries are also against them along with 28 countries providing military support against Iraq. This makes the audience realize that perhaps Iraq is the culprit as majority of the countries and religious groups are against it. Yet, the letter does not present with the cause of this unity, this agreement, regardless of how many agree to the
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