George Bush 9/11 Speech Essay

In the weeks following 9/11, George Bush made a series of encapsulating speeches directed towards U.S. officials as well as the American people. In these speeches, he makes several bold assertions. In addition to declaring a “war on terrorism” he proclaims the U.S. to be an international protector of freedom. This, as well as his declaration of terrorism as a tangible threat transforms the events of 9/11 into a war on terror. The way in which he constructs these speeches sets the stage for a war that will captivate the world for the foreseeable future. The objective of these speeches was to change the world politically, economically and socially, and they succeeded. By materializing this enemy known as “terrorism”, George Bush changed the world. In his Remarks Following a Meeting With the National Security Team, George Bush labels the attacks of 9/11 as “acts of war” (Bush 2001, 1100). For the first time in

He equates terrorism to the workings of Al Qaida, which supports the corrupt Taliban government in the Middle East. He claims that these terrorists “hate our freedoms, our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other” (George W. Bush, 2001, 1141-1142). Here Bush furthers his peoples’ understanding of terrorism by essentially telling them that the terrorists hate everything about American life. How correct in this sentiment he is does not truly matter; what does matter is how he sells this idea to the United States. By proclaiming how Al Qaida wants to rid the world of American freedoms, Bush plants the idea in the American people that their way of life is being threatened. By comparing this ideology to fascism, nazism and totalitarianism, he puts the objective of the terrorists into a historical context. By doing so, Bush makes the issue at hand more perceptible to the people of the United States and effectively rallies the people to his