War rhetoric was outsourced to academics because the Pentagon could not craft it
Evidence
Yet capitalizing on this opportunity to realize the neocon vision also meant orchestrating an elaborate public relations campaign designed to elicit public support and stifle criticism. Enter the war on terror. Stephen Sheehi points out that the rhetorical response to 9/11 was worked out by a group of academics, journalists, policy makers, and experts who were invited to strategy sessions at the White House. As Wolfowitz explained, “The US government, especially the Pentagon, is incapable of producing the kinds of ideas and strategy needed to deal with a crisis of the magnitude of 9/11.” Among those invited to help in generating the appropriate public response were Bernard Lewis, journalist and former Newsweek editor Fareed Zakaria, and Johns Hopkins professor Fouad Ajami, as well as several neocons. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 499
Categorization
Category: Craft and Method