September 12, 2004

Happenings Three Years Time Ago


They can make us believe anything... can't they, Ben?

(1) March 14, 2003: Polling data show that right after Sept. 11, 2001, when Americans were asked open-ended questions about who was behind the attacks, only 3 percent mentioned Iraq or Hussein. But by January of this year, attitudes had been transformed. In a Knight Ridder poll, 44 percent of Americans reported that either "most" or "some" of the Sept. 11 hijackers were Iraqi citizens. The answer is zero.

(2) June 13, 2003: A third of the American public believes U.S. forces found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, according to a recent poll. And 22 percent said Iraq actually used chemical or biological weapons in the war. Before the war, half of those polled in a survey said Iraqis were among the 19 hijackers on Sept. 11, 2001.

(3) June 17, 2004: The latest Harris Poll finds that more than a year after the invasion, a large 69% majority of the public still believes that Saddam Hussein had been supporting Al Qaeda. Only 22% believe that he did not support them, even though no clear evidence has been found that he was. And in all our surveys on the subject, most recently in May, a majority of the public has also believed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

(4) August 20, 2004: A 50% to 40% plurality still believes that the invasion of Iraq "strengthened... the war on terrorism," scarcely changed from the 52% to 38% who believed this in June.

(5) September 8, 2004: In his new book, Graham claims the president coddled the Saudis and pursued a war against Saddam Hussein that only diverted resources from the more important fight against Al Qaeda. Graham was furious when the White House blacked out 28 pages of the inquiry's final report that dealt with purported Saudi links to the 9/11 plot.

(6) September 10, 2004: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld mixed up al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein twice in a speech on Friday about the war against terrorism.




Posted by Norbizness at September 12, 2004 12:21 AM
Comments

That there is a brilliant propaganda machine. My only question is how have they not succeeded in turning Ronald Reagan and George Bush into the same person?

Posted by: Amanda at September 12, 2004 04:54 PM

Nice collection of articles. In summary: "Welcome to our idiots' democracy."

Posted by: Kev at September 12, 2004 08:40 PM

Which explains why no one in this Maladministration gets fired. Most of this great nation of ours wants it simpler than sound bites: they want brand name assiciations and a very short slogan/catchy jingle.

It's "Ford" vs. "Chevy," "good" vs. "evil," and for the NASCAR fans (who generally prefer it boiled down to an integer) it's "W" vs. "not-W."

We're the short attention span world power.

Posted by: Notbushcity at September 13, 2004 09:35 AM