The first decades of the twenty first century have been defined by the "War on Terror." One important aspect of this war is how it is constructed through the media on both sides of the conflict. The al Qaeda social movement primarily uses the internet to communicate with enemies, supporters and potential supporters. This thesis will focus on the perspectives espoused by online English-language jihadist media, which tends to frame the War on Terror as a war against Islam. This thesis will explore the rhetorical devices utilized by al Qaeda to promote their cause to their target audience through a neo-Aristotelian rhetorical analysis of six issues of Inspire magazine, Al Qaeda's online English-language magazine. The rhetorical devices al Qaeda employs make up part of a sophisticated strategy to promote the ethos of their cause. They present themselves as a legitimate global social movement

Bibliography: p. 129-143