Abstract:
The official line of the US and British governments is that the war on terror is a fight for good against evil. For many commentators this rhetoric of a moral imperative masks the geo-political realities that are the true motor of this war. For some the war represents the need to name a new enemy after the collapse of communism; for others it is a continuation of the Cold War and the fight against communism, a fight that brought about alliances with the Mujahideen in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Without doubt the war is also part of an ongoing strategy to ensure access to oil and to find a place to position troops once the possibility of remaining in Saudi Arabia became untenable. In this sense it is arguably part of a new imperialism, most ably described by David Harvey. But more specifically, the rhetoric also hides significant changes in the organisation of the military-industrial complex as documented by James Der Derian, as well as the deregulation of the war machine to produce what might only be described as a capitalist praetorian guard.
However, it is a problem if, in the light of this veiling function, we do not treat the rhetoric itself seriously, or if the only way in which it is critiqued is to dispense with it as a mere charade. If it is not recognized that the architects of war do genuinely believe in the absolute rightness (righteousness) of their world-view, a key aspect of neo-conservative hegemony will be missed. This article attempts to redress this problem precisely by treating the rhetoric seriously and exploring an alternative way in which it might be critiqued.
Details / PDF:
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