The Government’s Weapon of Choice

Propaganda is the heart and soul necessary for a war’s survival. This type of manipulation of the truth eliminates the disunity within the nation and brings the fragments of the country, the different political parties, together to form a strong whole. The government knows that the people’s support is one of the most important things in order to keep a war going. In the past, authorities effectively used propaganda to influence people’s opinions with great success, and were able to convince citizens that a war against Al Qaeda overseas was necessary to eliminate terrorist acts from the world. The government knew that they had to use propaganda to keep the support for this questionable war, and they effectively did so in recent wars by using Bush’s address to the nation, the Jessica Lynch story, and the Pat Tillman story.

Bush's speech was the first use of strong propaganda in the war, using an appeal to logos as one of his tactics. Bush wanted people to see the usefulness in going over to Afghanistan and Iraq to start a war so he made a point in his speech that, "On September the 11th, enemies of freedom committed an act of war against our country" (513). The ex-president presented the idea that Al Qaeda was the enemy of freedom and that the nation needed to retaliate regardless of the magnitude of the attack, solely because they attacked America. He played to the logic of the enraged people that willed to go to almost any length to get payback against this terrorist group for the crime of their attack. This made an appeal to logos, or an appeal to logic, because it made sense for a nation to aggressively retaliate when they were attacked at home. Also in his speech, Bush told the audience that in the war, "With every atrocity, they hope that America grows fearful, retreating from the world and forsaking our friends. They stand against us, because we stand in their way" (514). Bush explained how America’s significant differences with Al Qaeda naturally made these two groups enemies. These two groups’ differences eventually led to violent action from Al Qaeda where Bush took the opportunity to explain through his appeal to logos to elaborate the point across that because America got in the way of terrorists, they decided to attack America in order to reach their overall goal of bringing terror to the whole world.

Bush did not only use an appeal to logos, but an appeal to ethos as well. Bush began this appeal by saying how, "It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated" (514). Here Bush described how Al Qaeda would not stop until it was completely eliminated or defeated. This used an appeal to ethos, or ethics, because Bush was saying that it was partially America’s duty to rid the world of this evil. Bush continued his spiel on an appeal to ethos when he explained that, "This is not, however, just America's fight. And what is at stake is not just America's freedom. This is the world's fight. This is civilization's fight" (516). Bush once again showed how it was partially America’s duty in the overall task to rid the world of evil. Bush made the claim that the only ethical thing to do was to go to war in Afghanistan to rid the world of Al Qaeda's terrorism and malevolence.

Bush continued in his use of appeals by also using appeals to pathos in his speech. Bush claimed how, "night fell on a different world, a world where freedom itself is under attack" (513). Bush said this to stir up the audience and create patriotism among them in this appeal to pathos. He explained how the day ended with all people’s freedom at risk, and how the nation needed to take action in order to return freedom to the world. Bush continued in his emotional appeal by making the analogy that, "Al Qaeda is to terror what the mafia is to crime" (513). In making this analogy Bush looked to stir up emotions of fear and hate against Al Qaeda. Bush made an analogy to his audience using a group with a bad connotation to help the audience understand and fear the new group representing fear, Al Qaeda.

The second major use of wartime propaganda was the story of Jessica Lynch, in which the government used an appeal to logos. Jim Wilkinson, the person in charge of the government’s propaganda for the war, led the government appeal by pumping Jessica Lynch into news headlines everywhere. There were, “More than 600 stories about Lynch appear[ing] in all manner of media” (Krakauer 211). Jim Wilkinson and the government knew that the way to get everyone to support something was to mass market it. The government effectively used Jessica Lynch to cover up recent unsatisfactory events in the war and lead the public to believe that everything in the war was going well. If they did not advertise the heroism of Jessica Lynch, denizens would be more apt to see the distastefulness in the war and not support it. In order to hit the public in the strongest way, “Wilkinson simply sowed a little misinformation where it would have the most impact, sat back, and watched his fabulation go viral, propagated by the media frenzy that he knew would ensue” (Krakauer 182). All he did was get across the propaganda to people, and they amongst themselves made it go viral. Wilkinson was logical in his approach and got the idea that all he had to do was say the misinformation people wanted to hear about the subject they wanted to hear, and they would become exactly like putty in his hands. Overall, the propaganda set up from, “The Jessica Lynch hoax worked so well, in fact, that the White House would recycle the same tactic thirteen months later, almost move for move, when it was confronted another series of potentially disastrous revelations” (Krakauer 211). The government realized how effective the Jessica Lynch story was in suppressing the poor information of the war and in showcasing some of the good things that the war brought. They were also smart enough to realize it could easily work again following the common cliche expression of, if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.

The government was also involved in some ethical decisions in regard to how others view them through the story of Jessica Lynch. Jessica Lynch was a powerful tool for the government for some time, but, “Eventually Wilkinson's rendering of Lynch's ordeal was exposed as propaganda, but by then it had already accomplished what it was meant to accomplish: covering up the truth in order to maintain support for the president's policies” (Krakauer 211). In making this decision, they decided that concealing the truth was the only way to keep the campaign safe. Wilkinson viewed the support of the president’s policies, the support of the war, in highest regard. In essence, the only way to keep the support for the war, was to tweak the information about the war. Without support for the war, Al Qaeda would not have been sought out, and Osama bin Laden would still be calling the shots for Al Qaeda. Looking at the whole topic of the ethics of the government involving Jane Lynch from a different angle, it was ethical of them to run an operation to save one person, despite the reasons for it. The government took the ethical road to save one person to share their story of Al Qaeda, rather than to just promote revenge for those kidnapped and run faceless propaganda. With Jessica Lynch, the government gave their propaganda a face.

The strongest form of propaganda that the government and Jim Wilkinson used Jessica Lynch for was the emotional appeal, or appeal to pathos. The government made Jessica Lynch a household name and ingrained her story into the hearts of Americans though their emotions. Wilkinson expertly did this by using a, “dramatic video of the rescue distributed to the media by the Army” (Krakauer 180). This video made the emotional impact it was meant to. The Army leaked the video for the viewers of this propaganda to be able to create a more personal connection with Jessica Lynch. To see the rescue happen created more emotion than just hearing about the rescue. It also created mania among journalists. Jessica Lynch became a person that, “journalists found irresistible: a petite blonde supply clerk from a [small town in] West Virginia is ambushed in Iraq and fearlessly mows down masked Fedayeen terrorists with her M16 until she runs out of ammo, whereupon she is shot, stabbed, captured, tortured, and raped before finally being snatched from her barbaric Iraqi captors” (Krakauer 180). The journalists made the appeal to pathos for the government by putting her all over the news, discussing her emotional road from capture to rescue. Through the limited propaganda provided, the government got a huge impact from it because of how the media blew up the story. The government passed propaganda to the media who expanded on the emotional story so that it reached the citizens who then embellished the war in their own minds.

The government made logical decisions in the making of appeals to promote the war through using their golden propaganda piece, Patrick Tillman. The government knew how to capitalize on the military’s mishaps, so, “When Tillman was killed, White House perception managers saw an opportunity not unlike the one provided by the Jessica Lynch debacle thirteen months earlier” (Krakauer 295). They knew that they could blow up the story to a new level because of the notoriety that Pat Tillman already had. His death would strike people harder because of his celebrity status, making the propaganda about his death by enemy fire even greater. Through all of this focus on Tillman, and, “Despite praising Tillman's patriotism and courage at every opportunity, the White House in fact used every means at its disposal to obstruct the congressional investigation into Tillman's death and its aftermath” (Krakauer 324). The government wanted to maintain their good image so that the propaganda they used involving Tillman would not be discredited. The government needed to conceal some of the truth in order to keep the well constructed propaganda stable.?
The government used Pat Tillman to promote their ethical plans of action during the war. They wanted to use this patriot to be the face of the war on evil, and, “Even without Pat's cooperation, the Bush administration turned his enlistment into a marketing bonanza for the so–called Global War on Terror” (Krakauer 150). The government knew that despite Tillman’s reluctance to work with the government on propaganda, he was an asset to support for the war campaign. The government showcased his act of patriotism for enlisting despite his professional football status to show that people of all backgrounds, even professional sports players, could work together to do the ethical thing and fight the terror of the world. The government used Pat Tillman for an allowable extent, but crossed a line when they overrode Pat Tillman’s request. Pat Tillman was adamant when he was quoted saying, “ ‘I do not want the military to have any direct involvement with my funeral’ ” (Krakauer 315). The military, while they did not manage the funeral, were very much a part of his funeral. They sent people to speak and were certainly promoting it even upon his death, as they attempted to use him as propaganda for the war. While the government still effectively used him as propaganda, they failed to stay in tune with the ethics they tried to promote themselves as having.

Propaganda involving Pat Tillman also attempted to reach to the emotional measure. The Bush, “administration had tried to make Tillman an inspirational emblem for the Global War on Terror when he was alive” (Krakauer 295). They knew that using Pat Tillman as their lead propaganda would tie in people’s emotions toward Pat Tillman, which was generally good. By bringing in Pat Tillman into the Global War on Terror, people’s emotions would tell them to support the war because of Pat Tillman’s involvement in it. The government used similar propaganda, like Jessica Lynch, to pull in people’s support for the war by bringing their emotions into the thought process of whether or not the war was a good thing. The armed forces decided to construct more emotions by, “deciding to ratchet up the media hysteria to an even higher level by awarding Tillman a couple of posthumous medals” (Krakauer 297). The government created more emotional responses by rewarding Tillman for valor. The media was able to produce the emotion that they wanted to have the citizens feel. The government effectively used the series of unfortunate events involving Pat Tillman to create emotions of support for the war.

The government was an expert in the use of propaganda because they had all the information and had the ability to factor all the good aspects out of the war and use them in their propaganda. This great tool, propaganda, was necessary for keeping the fire for the war alive. Propaganda was the government's domestic weapon, and they used it on the unknowing people at home, feeding them all the good about the war, but concealing some of the less than favorable things about the war. This influence drove the people to keep pushing for the war. While it was a cruel twist of fate, it was a necessary evil that the government needed to use in order for the nation to achieve some of its goals at the national and international levels. Although the use of propaganda was not exactly the most moral thing to use because it conceals the whole truth, it was necessary for the American government to do in order to get the people to support their plans of action in the overseas war against Al Qaeda.