9/11 Essay

Bush and Chomsky use different methods of rhetoric and different tones to get their points across to the audience. Chomsky uses harsh language and is very straightforward with his points, while Bush has a more uplifting tone which helps the audience engage with the topic. Bush is writing his speech only a couple of days after the event had occurred and wants to present the topic in a calm manner without scaring the public. He uses anaphoras when he thanks the public, helping them understand that they also have a part of bringing the country back together after the attack and finding a way to stop terrorism, “eliminate it, and destroy it where it grows” (Bush 5).  Chomsky, on the other hand, is writing about the event ten years after it happened, so he is harsher with his ideas and believed that Osama should have gotten a trial.

According to Chomsky, the actions by the United States constitute “American exceptionalism”, which is the idea that the United States is inherently different from other nations. The US, after capturing bin Laden, killed him, and threw him into the water. Chomsky believes that he deserved a trial and an autopsy, whether he was a terrorist or not. If Osama was given a trial, Chomsky explains that we would have known for sure who committed the attack and who was innocent. It was an act based on American exceptionalism because America is accepting the acts from the laws.  Chomsky gives the example of what would have happened if the Iraqis were the ones who had assassinated Bush and dumped his body in the Atlantic. They would have done it after proper burial rights, which did not happen for bin Laden. In his case, the American’s violated the law by not giving him a fair trial. A few days before the assassination of bin Laden, Orlando Bosch, a terrorist, was granted a “presidential pardon by Bush over the objections of the Justice department” (Chomsky 6).  This trial did not also follow the laws of a fair trial.

In Bush’s speech, Bush tells the public that the US will pursue nations and will give every nation the option to choose the side of the terrorists or the side of the Americans. Every nation that supports terrorism will be considered their enemy (Bush 5). Unlike Chomsky, Bush doesn’t really go into details with what actually happened or if their actions were wrong. He wants to keep everyone supporting the government so continues to talk about what they will be doing to stop terrorism altogether. Bush also mentions how he isn’t going against any group as a whole but just terrorism. He calls it the “world’s fight” and says how everyone needs to work together to bring terrorism down.  The American exceptionalism entitled us to start a war and was practiced because Americans accepted the acts from the laws. They created laws that would sometimes not be enforced and was also accepted if it wasn't enforced.