At Spinsanity, we wrote on the website and in our book about the ways that President Bush tried to link Iraq with 9/11 and imply Saddam was in league with Al Qaeda.
These tactics worked -- more than 75% of Bush supporters believed (PDF) in October 2004 that Saddam was directly involved in 9/11 (20%) or gave substantial support to Al Qaeda (55%).
Sadly, a new Zogby International poll of soldiers in Iraq (via Brad DeLong by way of Scott Rosenberg) suggests that soldiers in Iraq may be even more misinformed:
The wide-ranging poll also shows that 58% of those serving in country say the U.S. mission in Iraq is clear in their minds, while 42% said it is either somewhat or very unclear to them, that they have no understanding of it at all, or are unsure. While 85% said the U.S. mission is mainly "to retaliate for Saddam's role in the 9-11 attacks," 77% said they also believe the main or a major reason for the war was "to stop Saddam from protecting al Qaeda in Iraq."
“Ninety-three percent said that removing weapons of mass destruction is not a reason for U.S. troops being there,” said Pollster John Zogby, President and CEO of Zogby International. “Instead, that initial rationale went by the wayside and, in the minds of 68% of the troops, the real mission became to remove Saddam Hussein.” Just 24% said that “establishing a democracy that can be a model for the Arab World" was the main or a major reason for the war. Only small percentages see the mission there as securing oil supplies (11%) or to provide long-term bases for US troops in the region (6%).
Here's the text of the key questions from RadioBlogger:
Please rate the statements in questions 8 through 14 as reasons for the Iraq invasion, using the following scale:
1 - Not a reason
2 - Minor reason
3 - Major reason
4 - Main reason
5 - Not sure
8. To remove weapons of mass destruction (WMD) from Iraq
1 2 3 4 5. Not sure9. To remove Saddam Hussein from power
1 2 3 4 5. Not sure10. To establish a democracy that can be a model for the Arab world
1 2 3 4 5. Not sure11. To stop Saddam from protecting al Qaeda in Iraq
1 2 3 4 5. Not sure12. To retaliate for Saddam's role in the 9/11 attacks
1 2 3 4 5. Not sure13. To secure Iraqi oil supplies
1 2 3 4 5. Not sure14. To provide a long-term base for U.S. troops in the Middle East
1 2 3 4 5. Not sure
Note: Polling in Iraq is extremely difficult and Zogby has not disclosed his methodology for security reasons -- see Mystery Pollster's posts here, here, here and here discussing how much faith we should put in the findings.
Sadly, our soldiers are often the last informed about why we go to war, due to the nature of their military service. But we civilians have no excuse, and should inform ourselves where our soldiers cannot.
Posted by: Alexander Wolfe | March 07, 2006 at 11:36 AM