Iraq Article

Context:

This article idea was assigned following the announcement of an event highlighting the Iraq war, sponsored by Elon’s Political Science and Policy Studies departments. The writing process included attending the event where we watched portions of two war documentaries and listened to the stories of professors and panelists.

Rhetorical Strategies:

As it goes for every article, the audience is intended to be the general Elon community. However, with a topic as sensitive as the invasion of Iraq, 9/11 and war as a whole, it was vital to use objective, neutral, yet impactful language to get the message of importance across. To do this, I re-listened carefully to the transcription of the event and chose quotes that contained the most meaning behind them, including one from Professor Faddam, who taught at a University in Baghdad during the aftermath of 9/11: “Death became so usual to us. I lost count of how many dead bodies I’ve seen. I have videos of me walking over fully burned dead bodies. This is what we were experiencing everyday.” Additionally, I incorporated the rhetorical tactic of repetition by emphasizing the gruesome statistics associated with the war to demonstrate its intensity and seriousness to the audience (ie: that Baghdad had received 10-15 bombs per day, as well as the suicide rate of over 30,000 American soldiers). Finally, I incorporated two images: one being a general picture of American soldiers in Baghdad, as well as an infographic created by the Political Science department for the event, to showcase the contextual situation of the article to a laymen viewer.

Reflection:

Getting the chance to write about topics like this is one of my favorite parts of working for the Office of University Communications. This position has granted me the opportunity to attend campus events like this and engage closer with the community, which I may not have done prior. Writing about a topic as serious as this for the political science department also enabled me to develop writing skills for unchartered territory for me as a journalist: war and death. Learning and listening to a panel like this gave me the chance to focus on and point out the most important statistics and components to the audience I could (given that there are so many factoids to choose from in a serious event like this, I gained the ability to write more concisely). Furthermore, attending this event was special since I ended up taking a course with one of the presenters, Professor Safia Swimlear, International Human Rights. Different human rights violations from 9/11 and the Iraq war were later discussed in the coursework of this class, providing me with a sort of “full circle” educational experience. This gave me the chance to see how my various identities as a rhetorician through my minor coursework and role as a student journalist intersected. Its moments like this throughout my time at Elon where I felt reiterated that I was on the right track, learning about global issues and topics I am passionate about.