1. Running head: RHETORICAL ANALYSIS 1
Rhetorical Analysis
Rhetorical Analysis Essay
Griffin Geick
University of Northern Iowa

2. RHETORICAL ANALYSIS 2
Nowadays, it seems to be pretty hard to find articles about politics that are one
hundred-percent true and unbiased. The article, We Can’t Destroy ISIS Without Destroying
Bashar al Assad First, written by Fred Hof, is one of those rare articles that stays away from
bashing one political party with over exaggerated facts, states an opinion on the best way
to defeat ISIS, and backs opinion up with facts compared to other articles on the same topic.
I believe that this is a very accurate article, as Hof does an excellent job getting his message
about the most efficient way to destroy these radical Islams out to the American audience,
as many Americans are becoming concerned about ISIS in the world today. In this article, I
analyzed the author, the message, the intended audience, and the context to support the
claim that this is a accurate article.
In preface to this analysis, We Can’t Destroy ISIS Without Destroying Bashar al Assad
First, talks about how the writer, Fred Hof, thinks ISIS should be destroyed. Hoff thinks the
only way to destroy ISIS is to strengthen the governments of Iraq and Syria, and kick out
Syria’s current leader, Bashar al Assad. Hof uses his own experience and knowledge in this
article to back up his opinions on what he thinks is the best thing to do.
Hof has always been involved in the Middle East. After graduating Georgetown
University School of Foreign Service in 1969, he served as an Army officer in the Vietnam
War. Since then, he has served in multiple different Middle Eastern countries, which has
allowed him to understand and develop an expertise on the culture of these people. After
his army career, he served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and then the US State
Department from 2009-2012 working on Middle Eastern affairs (Frederick C. Hof).
Fred Hof is a very active journalist as well; writing numerous articles on Middle
Eastern issues, and providing his insight as to what he thinks is the best way to approach

3. RHETORICAL ANALYSIS 3
the current conflicts. Along with We Can’t Destroy ISIS Without Destroying Bashar al Assad
First, the majority of his pieces get published on newrepublic.com, a website that posts
political, cultural, and world news articles.
The topic this piece was written about seems to have high importance to Hof. He
wants ISIS gone, just like the majority of the world, but he knows his stuff and believes that
he has a better way to do this than what the world leaders are currently doing. He is very
motivated to get the word out to the public that there are better, more efficient ways to
destroy ISIS than bombing them and flooding the audience with “persuasive” words. He
does an excellent job of this by sending a serious message to the audience.
His very last statement in We Can’t Destroy ISIS Without Destroying Bashar al Assad
First is, “But regime removal is the first step, and without legitimate governance in Syria (as
well as Iraq) the undead Islamic State will continue to march.” This will definitely strike
fear into the audience, and Hof uses this statement to do just that, bring fear to his audience
so that they will understand that much more aggressive action must be taken to stop and
destroy ISIS.
According to newreupblic.com, Hoff has posted 8 articles in the last year about this
same topic. Some of these are, Obama Must Make Clear That the Syrian Regime Is Our
Enemy, Too, America Must Stand Firm on Syria at the Geneva II Conference, and many other
articles about the importance of Syria in destroying ISIS. It is very evident that he is
passionate about this and wants to make sure that the public understands how big of a
threat ISIS is (Fred Hof).
Fred Hof sends the message of this story through a very serious tone. He is able to
convince the audience that he is one hundred-percent certain that if Iraq and Syria can

4. RHETORICAL ANALYSIS 4
grow effective governments, ISIS will run out of places to go and hide. “The essential
problem that has permitted the Islamic State (ISIS) to roam freely in parts of Iraq and Syria
amounting in size to New England is state failure in both places.”
A White House fact sheet from September 10th says that “Supporting effective
governance in Iraq” is one of the president’s key strategizes in destroying ISIS. This will
take time, but to Hof, it seems that the White House does not have this as one of its top
priorities. Hof believes, and eloquently communicates, that the current bomb and
persuasive talking counter-terrorism strategy against ISIS is not effective because “The
Islamic State will remain undead no matter how many of its kings, queens, bishops, rooks,
and pawns are swept from the table.”
This statement can be backed up by the article, Want to Defeat ISIS? Help the Syrian
Opposition, written by Al-Bahra. This article describes how Syria is the reason ISIS was able
to grow and become so powerful, and only by defeating the Syrian president, al Assad, can
ISIS be destroyed forever. This article is very similar to Fred Hof’s and backs up all of the
facts and opinions on the topic, making Hof’s article even more effective in getting his
message across.
Hof gives a ton of information about what the White House is doing wrong, but he
doesn’t say much about what they are doing right. This is the only hint of bias that this
article has. It leaves the audience to think, “Is the White House doing anything right?” As
well as this hint of bias, it seems that he has written this article just off of his own
knowledge, which can also lead to some incorrect interpretations, as well as more bias.
However, he communicates in such a way that it all seems to make perfect sense, especially

5. RHETORICAL ANALYSIS 5
knowing that he worked in the United States Department of State, as well as an US
Ambassador on matters just like this.
Even though Hof doesn’t cite any sources in his article, it is evident that he knows
what he is talking about and his facts are true. This is a very important topic, and someone
with his background and expertise would definitely be putting out the facts about the
subject. The purpose of this article is to persuade the audience that the White House is not
handling the situation properly.
The audience that Hof is trying to persuade is those that believe that the United
States is correctly handling ISIS, along with people who are clueless on the idea. He brings
in a lot of background information to give everyone a good understanding of the topic, and
also tries to persuade them by using facts and his own personal beliefs/opinions on the
topic. The way that Hof perceives his audience is a collective of people that truly care about
the world, and that want the ISIS problem to be dealt with as soon as possible. Hof believes
that most people understand how big of a threat ISIS is, and he also wants to make sure
those people that don’t understand, quickly figure out that ISIS is as very big problem.
Like earlier stated, Hof gives the audience a brief description of ISIS and does a very
good job explaining how big of a threat they are, and the best way to take them down. He is
trying to get this message out to the audience so that everyone will see his point and try to
change the way the world leaders are dealing with ISIS.
This is a very relevant topic in the world today. ISIS is a terrorist group that will stop
at nothing to rid the world of anyone who has different religious beliefs. They are
recruiting groups of people, even individuals, around the world, and killing innocent people
in different parts of the world who refuse to convert to Islam. There have been attacks in

6. RHETORICAL ANALYSIS 6
Canada, the United States, and all throughout the Middle East. They need to be destroyed,
and Hof is telling the world that our current strategy is not going to eliminate them. The
article, Everyone Who Wants to Destroy ISIS Needs to Know One Hard Truth, written by
Kelley & Nudelman, has the same idea has Hof: that this terrorist group is very dangerous,
and the only way to destroy them is to go to war, and kick al Assad out of Syria.
The Middle East has been a home to terrorist networks for many years, and Hof
believes the best way to rid all of these terrorists is to strengthen the governments of those
weak Middle Eastern countries.
After analyzing the author, the message, the targeted audience, and the context of
Fred Hof’s article We Can’t Destroy ISIS Without Destroying Bashar al Assad, it is very
obvious that this is an accurate and reliable article. Hof, who is an expert on this topic, does
an excellent job getting his important message out about an extremely relevant topic to a
worldwide audience. He stayed away from all the political garbage and delivered his
opinion, which he backed up by facts, on what he thinks is the right way to rid the world of
these radical Islams that call themselves, “ISIS.”

7. RHETORICAL ANALYSIS 7
References
Al-Bahra, H. (2014, August 13). Want to Defeat ISIS? Help the Syrian Opposition.
Retrieved October 27, 2014, from http://online.wsj.com/articles/want-to-defeat- isis-
help-the-syrian-opposition-1407971766
Fred Hof. (2014). Retrieved October 27th, 2014, from http://www.newrepublic.com/authors/fred-
hof
Hof, Frederic C. (2014, January 1). Retrieved October 27, 2014, from
http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/about/experts/list/frederic-c-hof
Hof, F. (2014, September 12). We Can't Destroy ISIS Without Destroying Bashar al Assad First.
Retrieved October 27, 2014, from http://www.newrepublic.com/article/119424/isis-and-
syria-why-us-should-eliminate-bashar-al-assad-first
Kelley, M., & Nudelman, M. (2014, August 20). Everyone Who Wants To Destroy ISIS Needs
To Know One Hard Truth. Retrieved October 27, 2014, from
http://www.businessinsider.com/whats-needed-to-eliminate-isis-2014-8