Raid at Abbottabad’: editorial cartoons and the ‘terrorist almighty’ in the Kenyan press

Abstract

his article probes the frame ‘terrorist almighty’ that featured prominently in editorial cartoons in Kenya's two main newspapers in the high noon of the ‘war on terror’. From this frame, the article reveals that as the war on terror veered off from the promised script of a surgical war and the swift capture of the alleged 9/11 masterminds, increased terror attacks by suspected al-Qaida militants globally saw editorial cartoons systematically construct a symbolic reality of a vastly powerful terror network, personalized as Osama bin Laden. These editorial cartoons provide us with a critical look at the many phases of Osama bin Laden, from the acme of evil, a verminized villain, and finally mutating to the terrorist almighty, a particular frame that may have played a critical role in the discourse that followed the killing of the world's most wanted fugitive.