Brothers in arms or partners in crime? A study of the gap between EU and USA in the cooperation against global terrorism.
EU'Argumentation analysis' transatlantic-gapUSRelations'security policy cooperation''global terrorism'IraqIntervention'Preemptive war''Weapons of mass destruction'Political and administrative sciencesStatsvetenskapFörvaltningskunskapLaw and Political Science
In this thesis I analyse and discuss what impact the 2003 U.S lead intervention in Iraq, had for the cooperation against global terrorism between the European Union and the United States. Six years have passed since the Bush administration decided to go on with the intervention, even though they did not have the necessary UN mandate. Due to unsuccessful argumentation in favour of the intervention by the Bush administration, the world got divided. George W. Bush reference to a ?war on terror?, which passed almost unnoticed by Americans, rang alarm bells in many European countries. I find that the failure of the Bush administration to motivate and legitimize the intervention in Iraq 2003 was caused by old-fashioned argumentation. This can in the long run divide EU and USA and even widening the power gap explained by Robert Kagan. The consequences of this unilateral act of war are still to be summarized.