The Abu Ghraib Images: 'Breaks' in a Dichotomous Frame

摘要

President Bush's rhetorical justification for employing military force in Iraq was to frame "Operation Iraqi Freedom" through the Manichean dichotomy of good versus evil. However, as useful as the Manichean frame was for garnering initial public support, it was challenged by the images from Abu Ghraib prison. The images represented what Goffman (1974) termed a "frame break." Consequently, the Bush Administration engaged in a frame repair strategy that involved blaming a small group of isolated soldiers, the only possible interpretation given the administration's previous rhetoric that the war in Iraq was part of the ongoing struggle between good and evil.