> It's not surprising that many don't know that WMD sightings have been
> proven false, but isn't it another thing entirely to hear that "about
> one-third of Americans think Iraq _used_ WMDs during the war" (emphasis
> added)? Has anyone made an insinuation that Iraq actually _used_
> (rather than just possessed) WMDs during the war?
Never underestimate the ability of the 1/3 most ill-informed Americans, who have very little, if any, grasp of the outside world, to come up with their own befuddlements.
It's similar to the idea that Saddam was connected with, or even directly behind, 9/11. The Bushies only touched lightly on this claim, but a large part of the public seems to believe it fervently. These folks just can't distinguish between one "A-rab" country and another, and between "A-rab terrorists" and other "A-rabs," so they just take it for granted that they're all in it together. And all the current problems the U.S. is stuck with in Iraq and Afghanistan don't matter to them -- all they care about is that good old George gave those "A-rabs" a couple of black eyes. That's enough to make him a great hero in their book.
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org ________________________________ How good bad music and bad reasons sound when we march against an enemy. -- Nietzsche