Abstract:
This article examines the ways in which the American
foreign policy elite justify and formulate their policies
against an imaginary enemy in the name of defending their
people. Washington‟s enemy does not exist, rather is
fabricated by using binary constructions. It divides the
world into two, based on the assumption that there is an
unchangeable character of duality: us and them. Once „they
or them‟ were Communists, now, „they‟ are Muslims or
Islam. This political enculturation is done through spoken
and written texts to help preserve its domination and justify
its interventionism worldwide as „good wars‟. The article
also examines the media‟s role in discourse setting which
not only manufactures consent, but also criminalises dissent
by using phraseology and labelling.
