The popular geopolitics of the USA's War on Iraq as reflected in newspapers of the Arab World

by Dr. Ghazi-Walid Falah, Dr. Colin Flint, and Dr. Virginie Mamadouh

Abstract

As with all wars, the US military invasion of Iraq in 2003 needed to be portrayed as a just war in an attempt to garner support and legitimacy, domestically and internationally. The USA was acting as hegemonic power in the international state-system and, in light of this role, had imperatives and tools in creating the argument for a just war that differed from those used by non-hegemonic states. The USA acted extra-territorially by diffusing a message of moral right. In turn, Arab resistance to the war was evident in the construction of the USA and its leadership as immoral, hence precluding its ability to wage a just war. This paper analyses the portrayal of the imminent war on Iraq in Arab newspapers. Sixty five newspapers of the Arabic language (plus the Iraqi news agency), published in seventeen Arab countries, of which four were Iraqi newspapers, were consulted for the purpose of this study. The rhetorical battle over morality and immorality was framed within a geographical framework of extra-territorial hegemonic influence into territorial sovereign spaces. Empirical focus upon the geopolitical rhetoric within political cartoons published in Arab newspapers highlights the way that arguments of morality and immorality were connected to understandings of territorial sovereignty and extra-territoriality.

Keywords: Arab World; USA; hegemony; just war; Arabic newspapers; geopolitics

Forthcoming Annals of the Association of American Geographers