Hussein Link to 9/11 Lingers in Many Minds

[kskiska]

By Dana Milbank and Claudia Deane

On the second anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, seven in 10 Americans continue to believe that Iraq's Saddam Hussein had a role in the attacks, even though the Bush administration and congressional investigators say they have no evidence of this.

Sixty-nine percent of Americans said they thought it at least likely that Hussein was involved in the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, according to the latest Washington Post poll. That impression, which exists despite the fact that the hijackers were mostly Saudi nationals acting for al Qaeda, is broadly shared by Democrats, Republicans and independents.

The main reason for the endurance of the apparently groundless belief, experts in public opinion say, is a deep and enduring distrust of Hussein that makes him a likely suspect in anything related to Middle East violence. "It's very easy to picture Saddam as a demon," said John Mueller, a political scientist at Ohio State University and an expert on public opinion and war. "You get a general fuzz going around: People know they don't like al Qaeda, they are horrified by September 11th, they know this guy is a bad guy, and it's not hard to put those things together."

While that belief came without prompting from Washington, Democrats and some independent experts say Bush exploited the apparent misconception by implying a link between Hussein and the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the months before war with Iraq. "The notion was reinforced by these hints, the discussions that they had about possible links with al Qaeda terrorists," said Andrew Kohut, a pollster who leads the nonpartisan Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32862-2003Sep5.html

[NNN0LHI]

1. Proof that 70% of Americans are nimrods n/t

[Catherine Vincent]

2. That is from sheep mentality...

n/t

[benfranklin1776]

3. DAMN. All I can say is DAMN.

"a general fuzz???" How about an utter abrogation of the role of the press in informing the electorate which enabled this adminstration to get away with its propagandizing and allow this misconception to take root...or is it mind numbing fear on the part of the electorate or both? All I know is that this does not speak well for the current state of the democratic process since such misinformation is held as a widespread truthful belief and indicates a profound capacity of the public to be easily misled. This will only encourage future such mass deceptions and result in more needless sacrifices of lives on phony pretexts.

[Whoa_Nelly]

4. But, but...

...even though the Bush administration and congressional investigators say they have no evidence of this.

Bush said back in February that Saddam WAS linked to 9/11 because of his ties to and harboring of Al Qaeda. Dubya, you're confusing the shit outta me! :cry: NOT!

[bagnana]

5. this is maddening

The article downplays the administration's role in fostering confusion regarding who was responsible for 9/11. Bin Ladin's been forgotten. Unless they are called on their misleading statements about this, the misconception will continue.

The fact that this country is composed 62% of nitwits who could allow themselves to be fooled by the administration's lies, is just plain depressing.

[NNN0LHI]

6. I even heard McCain confuse Saddam with Osama tonight

He had to catch himself. He must be on some heavy drugs or something?

Don

[lindashaw]

46. No. My dentist, who is a very nice man and very educated...

says he trusts our president and thinks we did the right thing by going in. He is no nitwit...this is...mindboggling.

[HereSince1628]

7. A misconception is easier to life with than a mystery...

Sad but true. The antidote is obviously education. Maybe we could encourage all 9 candidates to make this statement everywhere they go,

also educational ads in major papers once again identifying the highjackers and their nationalities. Sorry I don't have the bucks...but maybe one of those celebrity types could do it.

[Q]

9. "The main reason for the endurance of the apparently groundless belief.."

- The real reason is that the Bush* admin. lied about the Iraq/Terrorist connection and the bought-off corporate media perpetuated the lie without bothering to tell the other side of the story. The media downplayed the FACT that there was no evidence to support this claim...used in part to justify a preemptive strike against the Bush Family enemy: Saddam.

- The Bush* cabal and the American media is to blame for this lie becoming 'reality' for so many.

[PurityOfEssence]

40. you have just explained religion

oooh, uncertainty scary...

[NewYorkerfromMass]

43. best post on this thread

"enquiring" minds want closure. :eyes:

[Merlin]

50. An easily undersood, workable falsehood is more useful ...

than a complex, incomprehensible truth.

(What someone said long ago about the Warren report).


Saddam was so severely demonized by the admin and the media, it was suicidal to have appeared to defend him.

People have no idea that Iraq was, along the lines of Turkey, one of the most westernized islamic cultures. Women were treated as near equals to men. Sharia was suppressed. Madrassas were not permitted. There was universal education. The people enjoyed freedom in every respect except political freedom. They were even allowed to own guns, a freedom unheard of in nearly all other fascist and communist dictatorships.

Hussein was brutal toward dissenters and political opponents. (Not unlike Kemal Attaturk, his role model, who westernized Turkey.)

[KC21304]

8. " while that belief came without prompting from Washington"

Are they serious? This is the most ridiculous statement I have read in years.

Everytime Bush opens his mouth he is linking the war in Iraq to our war on terrorism. That is the only way he has a prayer to keep his job.

[benfranklin1776]

10. Exactly right as the article itself makes clear

"Bush, in his speeches, did not say directly that Hussein was culpable in the Sept. 11 attacks. But he frequently juxtaposed
Iraq and al Qaeda in ways that hinted at a link. In a March speech about Iraq's "weapons of terror," Bush said: "If the world
fails to confront the threat posed by the Iraqi regime, refusing to use force, even as a last resort, free nations would assume
immense and unacceptable risks. The attacks of September the 11th, 2001, showed what the enemies of America did with
four airplanes. We will not wait to see what terrorists or terrorist states could do with weapons of mass destruction."

Then, in declaring the end of major combat in Iraq on May 1, Bush linked Iraq and the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. "The battle
of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September the 11, 2001 -- and still goes on. That terrible morning, 19
evil men -- the shock troops of a hateful ideology -- gave America and the civilized world a glimpse of their ambitions."

Moments later, Bush added: "The liberation of Iraq is a crucial advance in the campaign against terror. We've removed an
ally of al Qaeda, and cut off a source of terrorist funding. And this much is certain: No terrorist network will gain weapons of
mass destruction from the Iraqi regime, because the regime is no more. In these 19 months that changed the world, our
actions have been focused and deliberate and proportionate to the offense. We have not forgotten the victims of September
the 11th -- the last phone calls, the cold murder of children, the searches in the rubble. With those attacks, the terrorists and
their supporters declared war on the United States. And war is what they got."


No question it was deliberate wordcraft for calculated psychological effect.

[dweller]

19. "No terrorist network will gain weapons of mass destruction from the Iraqi

regime, because"

b/c they didn't have them in the first place, dubyass, and you didn't find any, nor Bin Ladin nor Hussein!!
frikken loser. Come 11/04 you'll have your quadrafecta f*cker.

:grr:

Articles like this make me sick, they've said Washington didn't promote the Al Q-Hussein connection, then go right ahead and quote when he does. Other than lining the bird cage and puppy paper training with this rag, why do they think people snap up their copies? For hard hitting, factual and logically insightful news?



dp

[benfranklin1776]

23. Yes the internal contradictions are staggering....

.....but now par for the course from this once proud paper that was a beacon of journalistic integrity under Bradlee. Witness what happened after President Gore's speech in August: Their editorial page slammed him while at the same time on the front page was an article supporting the assertions about the adminstration's overstatement of the case for war which Gore laid out in his speech.

See http://www.mwo1.com/ar081103.htm

It is incidents like this that occur only when there is a deliberate effort to contort reality to fit a preset agenda which I submit makes the Post no longer fit for even lining the bird cage.

[dweller]

35. Maybe they can make some $$ recycling

the unsold copies.




since they are now collector's items...$19.95 and only 82 left!

http://www.stickergiant.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=wipes&Category_Code=bp

dp

[benfranklin1776]

38. Much better use of the Post these days!

I agree heartily!

[AntiCoup2K4]

58. "Shock troops of a hateful ideology" - Junior was partially honest there

Except the hateful ideology is that of PNAC :grr:

[Q]

11. "...without prompting from Washington.."

- This isn't just a mistake by an ill informed 'journalist'. It's an outright lie and part of a campaign of revisionism by the same fraudulent media that helped put George in office against the will of the people.

[benfranklin1776]

14. Yes and never, I repeat NEVER have I ever seen the press in my lifetime

....wipe any President's nose/ass and hold his hand and "protect him" like this bunch of clowns does for Junior. Must be serving really good stuff at the ranch "off the record barbecues" these days. Constantly they are editorializing in their reportage by apologizing
for the actions of this administration or obfuscating the import of this administration's actions willfully. No damn wonder people are dazed and confused.

[Flying_Pig]

12. Dana Milbank is frequently atop

the Media Whores Online list of worst whores. He's a lying piece of crap, who is guilty of treason for helping this regime with its evil plans. He, and all the other media whores and bootlickers, should be charged with treason and sedition, for their part in helping to destroy this nation, and the world. Simple as that.

:mad:
Grrr!

[wellst0nev0ter]

21. Bu-But He's Supposed To Be One Of The GOOD Guys!

Remember, he wrote that article last fall that said Bush kinda-sorta lied? "For Bush, Facts Are Malleable"? Remember? :eyes:

[markses]

13. Alternate Headline:

Hussein Link Lingers at the fringes of Consciousness for the Incredible Number of Resentful Imbeciles who Believed the Tripe in the First Place

Oh, I guess that would be too long. How about

BLOODTHIRSTY MORONS STILL STUPID, STUDY SHOWS

[BeatleBoot]

15. My Main Question To Republicans Is This...

What did Iraq have to do with September 11th?

The funny thing is, I have asked this question up to one hundred times, and I just keep getting a blank stare and they look away - each and every time.

It's amazing. They can't answer the question. Yet they support a guy who purports it.

[disgruntella]

20. prejudice must be a factor, along with simple ignorance

IMHO, anyway. I think a lot of Americans are so unaware of the history and culture of the region that they see the "Middle East" as a bunch of dark-skinned Muslims with a single agenda.

I am no expert on the Middle East but I have attempted to educate myself, and even with that cursory research I can see that the Iraq-AlQaeda link is a fraud, being exploited for political reasons.

It's all about connecting the dots, but so many folks don't want to bother - or at least it seems that way after seeing polls like this.

[SOS]

33. And a question for Bush...

The US invoked the self-defence clause in the UN charter to bomb Afghanistan. Why did the US not do this in regard to Iraq?

Answer: The US could not prove that Iraq was tied to 9/11 and could not prove an imminent threat.

[Minstrel Boy]

16. "The Idiots Are Taking Over"

NOFX - "The Idiots Are Taking Over"

It's not the right time to be sober
Now the idiots have taken over
Spreading like a social cancer
Is there an answer?

Mensa Membership exceeding
Tell me why and how are all these stupid people breeding
Watson, it's really elementry
The industrial revolution has flipped a bitch on evolution
The benevolent and wise are being thwarted, ostracized
What a bummer
The world keeps getting dumber
Insensitivity is standard, and faith is being fancied over reason

Darwin's rolling over in his coffin
The fittest are surviving much less often
Now everything seems to be reversing
and it's worsening
Someone flopped a steamer in the gene pool
Now angry mob mentality is no longer the exception
It's the rule
and I'm starting to feel a lot like Charlton Heston
Stranded on a primate planet
Apes and orangutans that ran it to the ground
Were generals and the armies that obeyed them
Followers following fables
Philosiphies that enable them to rule without regard

There's no point for democracy when ignorance is celebrated
Political scientists get the same one vote as some Arkansas inbred
Majority rule don't work in mental institutions
Somtimes the smallest softest voice carries the grand biggest solutions

So what are we left with?
A nation of God fearing pregnant nationlists
Who feel it's their duty to populate the homeland
Pass on traditions, how to get ahead religions
and prosperity via simpleton culture

The idiots are taking over

[peterh]

17. I actually blame this on the American media….

Rather than risk stepping on the toes of the current misadministration or having a reporter lose his or her WH press pass or being delegated to the press plane vs AF One….they are just not going to upset the apple cart. They probably figure if the majority of the public are ignorant to begin with (a probability I concur with) and pretty damn gullible on top of that….they’ll gear their stories to a level of comfort for their readers….unless it’s tabloid crap…then they know they’ll have a solid 86% readership regardless…There’s a little sarcasm in that last item.

[targetpractice]

18. "at least likely"

What does that mean? I'd like to see how the survey was worded, because it is a known fact (in survey statistics) that people tend to avoid the extreme choices.

[prolesunited]

22. Anybody care to make a bet with me?

I wager that Bush in his address to the nation Sunday night will say something to reinforce this link between Iraq and 9/11. The invasion of Iraq has gone horribly wrong and people are actually starting to notice and the 9/11 anniversary is next week.

I believe he (Rove actually) will prey upon people's emotions in an effort to regain support for this disaster in Iraq. Wounds and psychic scares will be reopened in the coming week as print and news media guide them through reliving the horror. We will be reminded that if we don't destroy all of the evil Muslims who hate us, they will try to kill us. (I don't believe this but far too many do.)

Our most primal instincts -- fear, revenge, need for safety — overwhelms rational thought unless held in check and they know how to harness this into a collective bloodlust. People are starting to wake up and come out of their fear-induced trance. Bush's job Sunday night and the media's job in the coming week will be to push us back into a safety-seeking stupor.

[benfranklin1776]

24. Good analysis.

I agree and will not lose my money in making that bet. I believe that you have predicted exactly the type of manipulative stagecraft that will be feted that eve.

[Whoa_Nelly]

25. The bets on should be

how far into the speech will he make that link...ROFL Put me in the square for 7 minutes 30 seconds :party:

[benfranklin1776]

26. I'll take that action and say three minutes.

n/t

[Whoa_Nelly]

27. You're on, Dude!

:smoke:

[benfranklin1776]

34. Buona fortuna!

n/t

[Whoa_Nelly]

37. bonne chance à vous, aussi

Insane Song Break!
Bush, pretending to not be campaigning, but singing and begging anyway to the American public:


Remember when you ran away and
I got on my knees and begged you
Not to leave because I'd go berserk?
Well,You left me anyhow and then the
Days got worse and worse and now you
See I've gone completely out of my mind.
And,

They're coming to take me away, ha-haaa.
They're coming to take me away, ho ho, he he, ha ha,
To the funny farm, where life is beautiful all the time
And I'll be happy to see those nice young
Men in their clean white coats and
They're coming to take me away, ha-haaa!

They're coming to take me away, ha-haaa!
To the happy home with trees and flowers and chirping birds
And basket weavers who sit and smile
And twiddle their thumbs and toes
And they're coming to take me away, ha-haaa!
To the funny farm, where life is beautiful all the time
And I'll be happy to see those nice young
Men in their clean white coats and
They're coming to take me away!

[peterh]

29. I want in…

Taking into account the public’s short attention span and it’s Sunday – primetime….1 minute thirty….:P

[Whoa_Nelly]

30. All comers

Come on in!

:party:

[benfranklin1776]

31. HMMM. Can't argue with those well reasoned points.

A minute thirty may be more realistic.........I also intend to count the number of times he makes the reference in the speech which will probably be at least four times.

[peterh]

36. Alright…we have side action going on now…

First audible…
Then how many times….I like four also…15 minutes, he wouldn’t flood the broadcast…ya think???

[Whoa_Nelly]

39. Am counting on

Bush campaigning first, and pushing his BS re: tax cuts and improving the economy.

Heard on NPR today that he claims he's not actively campaigning yet, but is still doing a lot of speeches and fundraisers that seem to discount that claim.

So, still am in on the 7 and 30 square for first time mentioned.

Put me in for 8 times on the count!

[MaineDem]

47. "he's not actively campaigning yet,"

Excuse me while I wipe the tea from my monitor.

What utter bullshit!!! (Not you but him.)

[Devils Advocate NZ]

48. You all give Bush too much credit! I am betting...

He mentions a link in the first damn sentence! Something along the lines of "As the second aniversary of Sept 11 approaches, the stabilisation of Iraq continues..."

[Sideways]

56. Yep First Words Out Of His Simian Lips

"Shallow um er fallow Murkans as the second annivert of September 11 reproaches I come here with a heavy hard on er um heart to rescind peoples that the war in Irak is jest er um just and that those terraist who bombed our condoms er um freedoms are stopping the good Iraki people from throwing up er um throwing rice and roses. Fool me once, meet the new boss, er um sorry wrong song, we won't be foolished again by Saddam or his dog Ali bin Abdullah Spot who ate the weapons of Mass Destruktion."

[prolesunited]

41. Sounds like we have some bets

or a new drinking game. So are we meeting in the Lounge or GD Sunday night? ;-)

[Whoa_Nelly]

42. If drinking game, too

then Lounge it should be :party:

[catzies]

66. I second the Lounge Drinking Game! I intend to be there early.

The only way I can actualy watch and listen to Shrub live is with :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: .

[Pale_Rider]

28. Saddam has been demonized nearly for 10 years ...

... and of course the American sheeple would identify Saddam with Satan.

[AngryWhiteLiberal]

32. And we wonder why wrestling and tractor pulls are so popular?

I love my fellow Americans, but sadly it appears that many are dumb as rocks. At least the majority of these dumbasses are Repuke...

JB

[stickdog]

44. Notice that if you just read the headline.

You once again see Hussein and 9/11 in the same sentence and it just reinforces the link between the two.

Of course, there is no evidence whatsoever that Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11!

[lindashaw]

45. This reminds me of the communist scare back in the 50s ...mass delusion...

Would someone explain how a mind works that will truly believe things like this? Not once did I ever believe that 9/11 was associated with Iraq, but I can't tell you why I didn't believe it. Just as I can't tell you why I never feared communism when I was a teenager back during the McCarthy hearings. Please, maybe someone can explain this....

[moondust]

49. Is ar chillun' lurnin'?

Please don't ask the hard questinos, okay? Ask me who won American Idol, okay?

[VermontYankee]

51. serious question

Hi folks



I got issues....
perhaps more for
Dr Phil than politics?
what do you think about the below questions?


why do up to X% of Germans think the US blew up the WTC?




Why do X% of Muslims think everything is a jewish conspiracy?



Why do folks believe GWB "stole" the election, in spite of not a single recount showing Gore victorious in Fla?



On another track,
why do "conservatives" hate "big Gov't" yet love law and order?


why do "Liberals" trust big gov't, distrust big companies and "law and order"?

[Sterling]

55. You certainly have issues alright.

Most of them seem to revolve around being woefully uninformed.

[Sideways]

57. Serious problem dude

Suggestion: Maybe you should pull your head out of your ass and clean it up before you pose any questions.

What the shit is X%? A percentage based on an unknown number? Really sheesh and blech. And damn shabby statistics.

And we are here to discuss politics not TV shows. If you're hankering for questions about "Law and Order" maybe you should go to their website.

YMMV but you seem to have turned a hard left when you clearly meant to take a hard right. Forgot to ask for directions again?

Serious indeed.

[lindashaw]

59. I think these are vital questions to today's society...

I don't have the answers, because I only intuit when I hear something that isn't right. I'm uncomfortable, and I don't believe it, though most often I can't put my finger on the reason. But Attila the Hun understood how people could be made to believe things. And Machiavelli, and Hitler. They knew how to make large masses of people draw a wrong conclusion. And Karl Rove knows how to do it. It wasn't an intuition with Hilter, and it isn't with Karl Rove. They honestly understand what the human mind will accept, and they know how to work all the factors that enter in. I wish I did. I could fix a lot of things.

[leesa]

52. Could it also be because the mainstream media pushed the idea 24/7?

[peterh]

53. As evidenced by speeches given by Bush and Cheney yesterday…

Non sequiturs keep the link alive….dittoheadism cuts across the spectrum.


<http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3397564>


Vice President Dick Cheney, at a fund-raising speech in Huntsville, Alabama, gave a stay-the-course message and predicted there will "surely be more casualties ahead" among American troops but pointed out some 3,000 people were killed on Sept. 11, 2001.


"We must never forget the lessons of Sept. 11, 2001, a sobering reminder that oceans no longer can protect us from forces of evil who can't stand what America stands for," Bush said in a speech about the U.S. economy in Indianapolis.

[Sterling]

54. Don't believe it, sorry.

Who are these people? I have not met anyone in months that takes the claim that Iraq was involved in 9-11 seriously?

Sorry, this is bullshit.

[lindashaw]

60. I have met many, many.

[VolcanoJen]

61. Kick

:dem:

[VolcanoJen]

62. Kick

:dem:

[Kellanved]

65. and another one

:kick:

[Sagan]

63. Even the ABC Radio story I heard on this obscured facts..

The media is very much to blame for this misperception. In reporting the story, ABC Radio News said there was no "concrete proof" instead of "no proof at all" or "proof to the contrary".

Whores.

[kentuck]

64. Why do they believe it?

There must be a reason? Did they just come to the conclusion on their own? Or were they led to believe that by the media and the Bush Administration in collusion? It is the media's fault if that many people believe it. They are not doing their job of informing the American people...

[David Zephyr]

67. 69% - - - Depp Is Right. America's is a "Dumb Puppy"

n/t

[VolcanoJen]

68. Kick!

:dem:

[Porcupine]

69. That's it America is done for as a viable nation...%70 moron quotient

we also believe in Angels, UFO's and bigfoot.

I graded a pile of tests from the junior college class my brother teaches. We're getting ripped off on our education dollars for sure. Americans are dumber than a yard of gravel.

Maybe New Zealand will take me as a refuge. I can almost think most days.