ABSTRACT
More than six decades after the end of World War II, the conflict continues to hold a central place in the popular imaginary. In contemporary politics,World War II has frequently been employed as a favored metaphor of conservatives, symbolizing the necessity of aggressive military policy against “evil.” President Bush in particular used World War II to justify the war in Iraq, comparing Middle Eastern “terrorists and totalitarians” to the armies of Nazi Germany.1 Of course, much has changed in the world since the 1940s, and direct comparisons are rarely appropriate, at least in a literal sense. Rather, these World War II metaphors nearly always function ideologically, fostering the rhetoric of patriotism in the United States and in other former Allied nations so as to bolster support for current military interventions.
