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INTRODUCTION
Much has changed in the year or more since the US began its military action in Iraq. But one thing has changed very little: the beliefs in the American public that just before the war, Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda and had weapons of mass destruction. These beliefs have been evidenced in numerous polls conducted by other organizations, as well as by PIPA/Knowledge Networks. Given that neither of these beliefs has been borne out by long and costly investigations into the activities of the fallen regime, and given the assessments challenging these views by high-profile figures like David Kay (former head of the US government’s Iraq Survey Group), Hans Blix (head of UNMOVIC, the UN weapons inspectors in Iraq before the war), or Richard Clarke (a previous national coordinator for counterterrorism and then White House advisor on the subject), it would seem that this might be a moment when these beliefs would begin to change. To the extent that they have not changed, this raises the question of “why?” Is it because people’s political biases are so strong that they do not receive new information? Is it because they are not aware of what most experts are saying? Do they perceive administration figures as confirming these beliefs? Perhaps most significant, if these perceptions changed, is it likely that Americans would modify their beliefs or their attitudes about the decision to go to war?
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