Description
Most of the existing literature on the Iraq War has devoted significant attention to analysing the perception of US officials regarding the threat of Iraq. However, this approach largely ignores the role that US Representatives played in the process of authorizing the Bush Administration to proceed with regime change in Iraq. Drawing from archival sources from the US Library of Congress we will analyse the perception of US Representatives regarding the threat of Iraq from 1998, the Adoption of the Iraq Liberation Act, until 2002, and the Adoption of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution. The archival sources will also allow us to look at the arguments from experts that were called to testify before Congress regarding the threat of Iraq. Preliminary findings suggest that US Representatives personalized the threat of Saddam Hussein by arguing that not only he managed to, unexpectedly, survive the Gulf War, but he also managed, using propaganda, to blame the United States for the suffering of the Iraqi people. We hope that this research will contribute to the discussion regarding the causes of the Iraq War.
