An analysis of the interview between Tony Blair and the British Forces Broadcasting Service dated 20 December 2002.

Genre: Interview (political interview)

Interviewers agenda:

-To determine Blairs attitude towards attacking Iraq. -the interviewer is trying to get an insight of Blairs real intention with regards to Iraq

Blairs agenda:

He is trying to convey the message that military action in Iraq is inevitable.

(para 2, line 1) I am afraid it is inevitable (para 2,line 4) but we will be prepared to use force (para 4, last 2 lines) Iraq will cooperate fully ifbacked up by the potential use of force.

The UN Security Council:

It is being represented as a body that is not reliable. Blair implicitly says that it is not capable of doing its task successfully. He does this by questioning the ability of the weapons inspectors of the UN finding the breach made by Iraq. He says at the moment we simply dont know whether the weapons inspectors will find the breach or not.(para 4, line 3). Earlier in the interview, he uses almost the same words but without directly mentioning the weapons inspectors. He says, we simply dont know whether Iraq will be found in breach of the UN resolution

Representation:

1. (the) Security Council by Blair:

a) The Security Council is portrayed as an authority to refer to, but the truth is it is just to show that Britain is following the rules and regulations.

(para 2, line 4) we have always made it clear that we will go back to the Security Council

The Americans. The Americans are mentioned to be cooperating with the British in preparation for the war on Iraq. Through background knowledge of the issue, we know that the Americans have a very close relationship with the British. In fact, sometimes it is the Americans who lead the British in making decisions. However, in the interview, Blair just gives a passing remark of the Americans. Blair is trying to background the

important role of the Americans in the forthcoming war. He does so probably to give more attention towards the British Army. It is also interesting to note that he does not even mention other countries that support military action against Iraq like Australia. We could assume that he is also trying background their roles also.

The British Army. The relationship between Blair and his army is very close. We seldom see heads of states going to the war front or watching his army training. This task is normally left to army commanders. In the case of the British Army, we notice that Blair himself, the Prime Minister of Great Britain goes to the field to watch his army train. He watches them train not only in Britain but also at various other places in the world. This can be noticed from his statement: And I have been involved in situations here at home recently when I visited some of the Armed Forces at Darlington and saw the Navy, and Air Force, and Army Personnel working on providing fire cover excellently with tremendous good humour and a total willingness to get on with the job. I have seen them in Sierra Leone, I have seen them out in exercise in Oman (para 6,lines 5-9)

We can also notice that Blair is acting like a motivator motivating his army by showering praises on them and congratulating them for the work done by them. For example, in most of paragraph ten he tells the interviewer how proud he is of the British Army and its good reputation worldwide. In paragraph six, he mentions that the British

Army is a brilliant army with total willingness to get on with the job and that they are a huge asset to him.

Blair is foregrounding the British Army by praising them. He wants to show how strong and competent his army is. In the whole of paragraph six we can see the words that he has chosen to describe his army. Usage of words like lost in admiration, brilliance, excellently, tremendous good humour, total willingness, amazing, huge asset all give a very good impression of the British Army.