Zogby Poll: 9/11 Five Years on Reveals Dramatic Partisan Split

[ECH1969]

Five years after 9/11, the bitter division between Republicans and Democrats on key issues is as intense as ever, with the two at loggerheads over the War in Iraq, wiretapping and surveillance, and what role, if any, Saddam Hussein played in the 2001 terror attacks, new polling by Zogby International shows.

The dramatic polarization highlighted by the fifth anniversary of the terror attacks in New York and Washington comes as a bitter midterm election season looms over control of both houses of Congress. The lack of national unity on the issue stands in stark contrast to the near—universal feelings of goodwill that stretched across American political lines immediately after the attacks.

Half of American voters (50%) say there is no link between Saddam Hussein and the 9/11 terror attacks, while 46% believe there is a connection. However, just 37% of respondents in the poll agreed that Saddam was connected to the attacks and that the Iraq War was justified as retribution for his involvement, while 48% believed that there is no connection between Saddam and 9/11 and the Iraq War has diverted America’s attention from the War on Terror.

The division is starker, though, on the question of whether expanding the War on Terror by invading Iraq was the right decision. There, 49% say the invasion was the right decision, while 50% disagree. While the nation is completely split on the question, there is a clear partisan component to those views, with 82% of Republicans saying the decision was the right one, while 77% of Democrats and 60% of independents disagree.

http://bbsnews.net/article.php/2006090611360177

[Maat]

1. I'll say there's a division!

Families and friendships have been irreparably and seriously damaged. I see it all the time, and it's happened in my own family.

[EFerrari]

2. This poll seems wierd to me. The number of deluded people

seems too high by 10-15 points. :shrug:

[maxsolomon]

3. there was NO 'near universal goodwill' in my household

blame falls only on the party in control of all 3 branches of the government. we are proud 10%ers, and i cannot discuss politics with my parents, uncles, & aunts without enraging them.

and every, EVERY action taken by * since then has been marked by ignorance & blundering.

[acmejack]

5. Well Max, we have something in common.

I wonder how these people can possibly be related to me every time they hold forth on anything political. I know they are that damned narrow minded and callous or are they? Perhaps I am just blind to their faults.

[maxsolomon]

6. yours most likely aren't anything but willfully ignorant

just like my relatives. they simply can't look. the truth is too horrible to behold, and, in the back of their narrow minds, they know it. if they let it in, if they learn what is done in their names, the guilt of voting for chimpy will overwhelm them & they won't be able to consume & pollute like normal.

[fidgeting wildly]

4. How is this possible?

I am at a total loss to understand how 46% of the population STILL thinks that Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11. That is a very high percentage of willfully ignorant people. I want to open my window and scream! :grr:

[Biernuts]

7. I don't give a rat's ass if he was involved in 9-11 or not (and I don't

think he was). So what? There is no reasonable doubt, however, that he contributed to transnational terrorism. Just by paying bonuses to families of murder-suicide bombers in Israel he contributed to mass-murders. His air defenses shot at US aircraft patrolling ONW and OSW on a daily basis. I'd characterize an assassination attempt on a former president (even on a former first lady in case he ever thought of taking a shot at HRC) as international terrorism. He harbored Abu Nidal. He used WMD against Iran (maybe he's not ALL bad) and fired missiles into Kuwait, Iran and Israel. On the domestic front, his genocide clearly made him the leading asshole in the state.

HE is terrorist even if he didn't pull the trigger personally. He was linked to other terrorists, even if you completely exclude doubtful links to Al Qaeda.

Now if you view GWOT simply as revenge on Al Qaeda for 9-11 and all the bombings in the 1990s, he's not your target. But if you instead view GWOT as taking out those who, if left unchcecked, will ally with the next equivalent of Al Qaeda, he's precisely the kind of target that's appropriate.

And no, I won't send my kids (son 12 & daughter 10) off to die, no one "sends their kids" when we have an all-volunteer force. But if they choose to join the military, it will be up to them, not me, and I'll respect their right to choose and will support their decision even if it puts them in harms way.

[Bluerthanblue]

9. there is also no 'reasonable doubt'

that America has not only 'contributed' to transnational terrorism, but that we have HEAVILY financed it- Have a look at Nicarigua- have a look at our dealings with Saddam BEFORE we dicided he wasn't 'useful' to us- He assumed power and held it, in large part because of our covert actions.

Before you try and justify the atrocities we have committed against other nations by saying that it is 'pre-emptive' defense, I suggest you point your finger right back at this f---d up nation of ours.

And while you may live under the delusion that some of the kids goin off to war have the clear choices you want to reserve for your children, ask yourself what 'choices' your kids have, when faced with no hope of anything other than a HS diploma- or a dead-end McDonalds job.

Our NG Unit has STILL been advertising to kids who don't envision a future that through the "Guard" they can see the world, serve 1 weekend a month, 2weeks a year, and get ahead in life- They don't mention the reality that they will end up in Iraq- or that the promises given during enrollment might be broken because the government CAN do what it wants (like not honoring the deployment limitations).

Some 'choices' aren't as clear cut as they appear to be. Your children may never DREAM of considering signing onto the military as a last ditch effort to get an adequate education- but for many low/lower income kids, it is not only a choice, it is often one of very FEW viable choices-

[noshenanigans]

8. "what role, if any, Saddam Hussein played"

Oh my. We really are past the point of the majority of people giving a damn about the truth, aren't we?