frames of the iraqi war Essay -- essays research papers

The Frames of the Iraqi War   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many views, theories, perspectives, and ideas pertaining to the War in Iraq. Throughout the last three years, as more and more information becomes available, the reasons for going to war with Iraq has changed. The War in Iraq would be considered a social movement. Therefore, it has many collective action frames, which legitimize a set of beliefs about a certain action or movement.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first pro-war frame is the first reasoning that the government gave for going to war with Iraq in the beginning – weapons of mass destruction. The United States had reason to believe that Sadaam Hussein, Iraq’s leader, had weapons of mass destruction and was harboring terrorists or contributing to terrorist actions. This could be identified as the motivational frame. It seemed as though America had a legitimate, rational explanation for invading Iraq. The United States government had both factors that contributed to the effectiveness of the frame: credibility and relative salience.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The motivational frame, weapons of mass destruction, was given credibility when it was said by the Central Intelligence Agency that they had reason to believe that Iraq was producing such weapons. It was also given credibility when the President identified Iraq as part of the â€Å"Axis of Evil† and a threat to the United States. The American people look at the President to know the information...