Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Approaching Propaganda with a Critical Eye
Part 1: Defining Propaganda and Historicizing America’s Wars in the Middle East
1. Theorizing Propaganda: Intertextuality, Manipulation, and Power
2. The Persian Gulf War and the War on Terror: A Brief History
Part 2: Manufacturing an Atrocity
3. How the Incubator Story Became news: The Power of Performative Semiotics
4. Keeping War Fever Alive: The Circulation of the Incubator Story
Part 3: Infiltrating Network News
5. Message Force Multipliers: Rewarding Recontextualization
6. Enacting and Entextualizing the Voice of the Expert
7. The Evolution of a Talking Point
Part 4: The Art of the Slogan
8. “Support Our Troops” as Portable Text and Cultural Tradition
9. “Support Our Troops” as Vertical and Horizontal Propaganda
Conclusion: War Propaganda and the Prospects for Resistance
Appendixes
A Studying Discourse in Context
B Factors Facilitating Detachability and Recontextualization
C Data and Methods for Intertextual Analysis of the Incubator Story
D Transcript of Nayirah’s Performance at the HRC
E Generic Components of George H. W. Bush’s Incubator Allegations
F Featured News Analysts and News Broadcasts
G Incentives for Recontextualizing Pro-war and Pro-government Claims
H Analysis of Speech Act Verbs
I Recurring Themes in News Analyst Discourse
J Themes Repeated by Analysts and Administration Officials
K Reports About Aluminum Tubes in Classified Documents and Public Discourse
Notes
Bibliography
Index