Dear Mr. President.....

My first reaction to the article "A Letter to President Clinton on Iraq" was "wow ten years later and this is still an issue on all of our minds." But this letter, which was written in 1998, was not written directly to the citizens of the United States, it was addressed directly to then-President William J. Clinton and he was their implied audience, but the non-profit organization, Project for the New American Century, that wrote this letter was most likely intended for more than just the President to read. The authors' use of audience construction really does fit into Kineavy's article and his definition of "aim." They were able to really make use his form of reality in both a scientific and informative way to persuade President Clinton and most likely U.S. Citizens that Iraq is a serious issue and our country's safety is at risk.


The use of reality form really plays well in this letter, the authors have proof why Iraq is an issue and they defend it well. Scientifically, they use a combination of both generalizing from particulars and arguing from accepted premises. Examples they used such as our ability to no longer monitor Iraq, allies being at risk of attack, and a significant portion of the world's oil supply being in danger are almost perfect examples of generalizing from particulars. The example of arguing from accepted premises came the statement that Saddam Hussein may have weapons of mass destruction and the entire world's safety is at risk. Do we know that Saddam had weapons? No, we do not, but that fact that he may have and we are in danger is what really makes it stay in our mind.

The second reason I see this as using the reality form is the authors' use of the informative. It does not state where the information comes from, however they are drawing from examples of recent events to prove their point. Just staring off in the second paragraph the authors state that Saddam is blocking the UN from inspections and in the third that President Clinton stated that the future depends on how we handle this situation now. They are using the information of what is going on over there as reasoning that this is a problem.

In conclusion, the authors of this letter really do make use of Kineavy's Discourse Triangle to really show their aim of persuading their audience. They are addressing it to President Clinton, but seeing how this letter come from an organization, not a single person, it in a way shows that this is something that is actually addressed to all citizens of the United States. Their use of logos and proof to support their claim really does make a person think.