(Newsweek) Poll: More Than 4 in 10 Americans Still Believe Saddam Involved with 9/11

[sabra]

Source: E&P/Newsweek

NEW YORK Nearly six years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the U.S., better than 4 in 10 Americans still wrongly believe that Saddam Hussein was involved in planning or carrying out the actions. Surprisingly, that number has even risen in the past two years, according to a Newsweek poll.

The belief that Saddam had something to do with 9/11, which was endorsed by Vice President Cheney and other Bush administration officials, was seen as a prime reason for broad public support for the attack on Iraq in 2003. Some have suggested that the media did not do enough to dispel this myth. President Bush and Cheney have belatedly declared that Iraq actually had nothing to do with it.

A Newsweek poll in September 2004 showed that 36% believed "Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq was directly involved in planning, financing, or carrying out the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001." Now the number in the same poll is 41%.

In a separate question, 20% said that "most" of the 9/11 hijackers came from Iraq. The correct answer, Saudi Arabia, was chosen by 43%.

Read more: http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003602869

[MNDemNY]

1. So, only 4 in ten americans are fuckin' idiots? Things are looking up.

[superconnected]

29. On the bell curve the 100 divides the people exactly in half

meaning there are exactly the same amout of people under 100 as over.

Some people forget that there are as many people in the 80's as the 120's, etc.

[FormerDittoHead]

38. Agreed. Even more don't believe in evolution, so I'm looking at the glass 60% full... n/t

dated but relevant:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/10/22/opinion/polls/main965223.shtml

[niceypoo]

53. which means at least 60% of Americans have woken up

[ixion]

2. yep, and he's in heaven right now making a chemical weapon plant look like a

chocolate chip factory. :eyes:

[sinkingfeeling]

3. I can hardly bear to live in the USA anymore. This should be an embarrassment to every

citizen in the country, but it's not.

[Botany]

4. Of course they do ... the myth is still being sold.

Just last Friday NBC had on their nightly broadcast that "we are fighting"
al Qaeda in Iraq. The "link" is still being pushed and sold. Oceans no longer
protect us .... The lessons of 9/11 ......

[underpants]

7. That is true but don't discount people refusing to see the extent that they were lied to

and not wanting to admit to it even to a faceless pollster on the phone.

If they admit it then everything falls apart.

[BootinUp]

5. How many of these idiots vote? n/t

[MNDemNY]

24. too damn many.

[last_texas_dem]

52. Yeah

These fools are the reason Shrub got enough votes to allow him to screw things up for four more years back in '04. They were scared and needed their strong daddy figure, and somehow they morphed Pretzel-boy into one of those. Nevermind that most of their fears were based on ignorance and false FAUX News-promoted facts like there being a link between Saddam and 9-11.

[liberal N proud]

6. The bu$h propaganda worked very well

Surprising the numbers are not larger with the current media situation, all bu$h propaganda, all the time except when Anna or Paris are in the news.

[tmlanders]

8. Very depressing... n/t

[pretty_lies]

9. Racism: Terrorists = Arabs = Iraqis

Iraq was fundamentally a racist war. The American people knew a tiny, poor, sanctioned third-world country was no conceivable threat to the nation with the world's largest military.

No, 70% of americans wanted dead Arabs on CNN. And most of them now oppose the war not because it was wrong but because they're losing.

[MLFerrell]

19. "The American people knew a tiny, poor, sanctioned third-world country..."

Americans don't know the first fucking thing about the rest of the world... OK, strike that, some do, but the VAST majority don't.

"No, 70% of americans wanted dead Arabs on CNN."

Maybe not 70%, but too goddamned many did (and do), that's for sure.

Oh, and welcome to DU! :hi:

[pretty_lies]

30. Even The American Public Were Aware Iraq Was No Threat

I defy you to find anyone who honestly believed that Iraq constituted a threat to the United States. The concept is absurd.

The US has 10,000 nuclear weapons, (illegal) chemical and biological weapons, not one but three different air forces, a dozen carrier battle groups, and millions of troops under arms.

Iraq had a few barrels of mustard gas at one time.

The argument that "they might support terrorists" is equally absurd. Any country that did that would be bombed flat with the enthusiastic assistance of the United Nations and NATO (as Afghanistan was).

The same argument applies to Iran of course. Nobody honestly believes any of these countries constitute threats to the US. It's entirely about anti-Muslim bigotry, with a little help from the AIPAC brigade who claim Israeli and US interests are identical.

[Grandrose]

41. Exactly right!

You nailed it, the powers that be and racists were angry about 911 and did not care which Arabs, they just wanted retribution! It is obvious when you see so little compassion for the deaths/maiming of innocent civilians. This was not a war, but a occupation and payback to the wrong people!

I am so sorry, angry and sad this was done in my name as an American!:cry:

[TwilightGardener]

10. Fucking morans. I have no hope for this country.

[cascadiance]

25. I wish we could somehow move all nukes, and other big weaponry out of the south...

... and then shove them all down there so that they can have their own "democracy" and say, "Hey, sorry about the Civil War, we made a mistake earlier. Have your own f'in country! Now get out of ours! We only want people who really believe in democracy up here!"

[AX10]

11. That 40% is the GOP's electoral base.

The 50% who don't believe this LIE are the Democratic voters.

[jackstraw45]

12. BREAKING: 40% of Americans are still ignorant morons!

Update on Paris Hilton after this break...

[VotingVet]

13. This is amazing and depressing

How many of that 41% still believe Poland launched a vicious and unprovoked attack against Nazi Germany? Besides Bill O'Reilly, I mean?

[gordianot]

27. O'Reilly also believes that Americans massacered German SS at the battle of the Bulge.

I quote “In Malmedy, as you know, U.S. forces captured S.S. forces, who had their hands in the air. And they were unarmed. And they shot them down. You know that. That's on the record. Been documented.”

I do believe O'Reilly was merely confused with the facts that at Malmedy American soldiers were machine gunned, but these inaccuracies create confusion among those who are already confused (Fox News Morans). SS tended not to surrender for a variety of reasons including well justified fear of retribution. By pure accident I saw Bill utter these words words and he appeared to me genuinely sympathetic to the poor SS. Bill and FOX News tends to raise my blood pressure as well as those who link Iraq to the 9/11 tragedy. I do watch FOX news from time to time to remind myself why I despise my brother and my stupid in-laws.

[Highway61]

14. Yup...

And they believe in the Tooth fairy, easter bunny, santa clause and think American Idol and Cops are the best shows on TV and that wonder bread and twinkies are nutritionally sound foods and Kool Aid is the drink of choice..... I CAN'T STAND THE IGNORANCE!!!:rant:

Sorry....I needed to get that out

[benld74]

15. I didn't know the housing market was so bleak,,,,

with 4 of 10 Americans living UNDER ROCKS!

[yardwork]

16. On my local TV news board most of hte posters don't believe in evolution

and think it's outrageous that "our troops" aren't allowed to torture and maim at will "to win the war against terrorism."

They're absolutely convinced that things are wonderful in Iraq and that all the bad news is lies made up by the liberal media. Quite frankly, I believe that a significant number of people in this country don't deserve to live in a democracy. They'd be happier in a theocratic dictatorship.

edit - spelling

[unc70]

32. I was commenting on that recently, too

I see you are also in NC.

The wral.com web site has the most consistently uninformed posters -- racist, xenophobic, sexist, ... -- regularly showing their lack of knowledge, empathy, compassion, or even basic human decency. Nothing but RW TPs with bad spelling.

All the while, they complain about the liberal bias of WRAL and about how WRAL is supporting John Edwards, etc.

[yardwork]

55. Yes - that's the one! I was thinking of wral.com. Amazing, isn't it?

I wonder how many of them are paid to promote right-wing views? Unfortunately, I think that the majority actually believe the stupidity that they post. It's like Free Republic on steroids.

[unc70]

65. I agree; they fervently believe the stupidity they post

I considered signing up to help balance the propoganda, but I decided it would not be a productive use of my time. (I post a little at DU and at salon.com.)

I have rarely seen a local news site with as much hate, racism, bigotry, Rush/RW TPs, and delusional postings. Since the postings at wral.com are apparently somewhat "moderated" since they discuss deleted posts, I shudder to think what must be in the "unacceptable" posts which have been removed. Those posts reflect badly upon the entire state of NC.

The most delusional aspect of many of their posts is that they think that WRAL is a liberal station. While it is somewhat more balanced now than when Jesse Helms was Vice Chair and ran the news and editorials, it is still far from liberal. In those "good old days", you could always count on at least one attack a week against The University and Chapel Hill, usually by Jesse himself or by Chub Sewell (famous for when the State was picking the site for the then new zoo, opined that they should just put a fence around Chapel Hill, thus solving several problems, and they would not even have to buy more "animals.")

[yardwork]

66. I find myself drawn to the site in a kind of sick fascination.

Two issues reliably get the crowd really worked up. One is murder - mob rule takes over. Dozens of posts instantly appear, all apparently written by different people with the same exact blood thirst, begging to be allowed to kill the accused in various ways.

The second is gay marriage. It drives the regulars bananas. I feel as if I can see the spittle on the page.

[Harry Monroe]

44. How many of these idiot posters are between the ages of 18-42??

The Army would love to have them. Then they could see for themselves firsthand how wonderful things are in Iraq. It really galls me to see how many people in their 20's and 30's still are in favor of this war, yet will not pick up a rifle and go fight in this war that so passionately believe in. Fuckin' chickenhawks; as long as someone else does the fighting for them.

Sometimes I find myself in favor of a draft just to see how much "support" there actually would be for this war among the younger crowd.

[yardwork]

54. When it gets really bad I invite the posters to sign up for the military.

It sometimes causes a brief pause in the stupid posts.

[Harry Monroe]

64. How many of them had actually said they would sign up??

Tell them to put their money where the mouths are!! Wonder how many would want to go if drafted. You oughta ask them that as well!!

[yardwork]

67. Not one has ever said that they would sign up.

Some of them claim to be veterans or have relatives in the service. Interestingly, a higher and higher percentage of those express reservations about the war or are flat-out against it. I suspect some of the others of being paid plants.

[librechik]

17. tell you what, Newsweek--why don't you do a COVER STORY

that has a picture of Saddam and NOT GUILTY OF 9/11!
as a headline.

I've only seen that little fact buried at the end of stories on the back pages.

Maybe if you had done your job in the beginning instead of every year or so doing a Huh, imagine that! story about something you've never properly reported!

[RedEarth]

18. That's scary.... but not surprising...the politics of fear

[mhatrw]

20. So corporate media report the results of a poll showing corporate media

egregiously failed to inform the public.

How about simply informing the public about the truth?

[Binka]

37. They Are Paid To Egregiously Fail It's In Their Contracts

Fuckwittages and AssHats every last Corporate media whore.

[redqueen]

21. Why are there SO many idiots?

There's no excuse for this idiocy... if only it were fatal to be that frickin stupid.

[glitch]

23. It is.

And not just for the fricken stupid either.

[cascadiance]

26. Perhaps the mercury poisoning is by design...

Robert F. Kennedy Junior was citing statistics that said something like 1 out of every six women had high enough mercury levels in their blood to produce cognitive defects in any kids that they have. Perhaps that's by design so that they Republicans can have more of a base!

[progressoid]

22. Yeah, I know a couple of them.

It's enough to make you up your Prozac prescription.

[glitch]

28. So 4 out of 10, is that the usual ratio for the Morons + Imbeciles + Idiots group?

Or is the constant propaganda making that number higher?

[Nihil]

56. No, the current ratio for that group is 2.6 out of 10 ...

... so I guess the propaganda is paying off for the BushCo investment in it ...
:hi:

[glitch]

60. Thank you! I really did wonder.

Hmmm, all that money and effort is getting them another 1.4 people. Brilliant! No wonder they have to fool people into following them, no one would ever do it willingly.

Maybe the 1.4 should have their own name too.

[speedingbullet]

31. Bush Approval at 26%?

Bush is so bad he can't even keep the support of these idiots. Or maybe they may be dumb enough to think Saddam was behind 9/11 but...

[Uncle Joe]

33. This is a testament as to the the brain washing power of the mass corporate media.

The American People didn't come to believe this in a vacuum, it happened because the people they trusted to inform them as to news of the day, betrayed them instead.

[Canuckistanian]

34. You can fool SOME of the people for a HELL of a long time, it seems

Never underestimate the power of a crooked government with (almost) complete control of the media.

If they can make 80+ million people believe a complete lie for so long, they can do almost anything.

[MidwestTransplant]

35. So he wasn't? I must have misheard. I thought Faux and the VP said he was.

[rcsl1998]

36. Good Job to the Main$tream Media

Fox may be the main culprit, but Newsweek exposes themselves and the rest of the M$M as the quislings they've been throughout this administration.

[Cha]

39. These 4 or more in 10 soak

up fauxnoise and their brainwashing is complete.

Catapulting the Propoganda of the bushits and the cheese dick.

[Dollface]

40. Is this what they mean by "The O'Reilly Factor?"

sigh

[u2spirit]

42. We have learned a lot the last 6 plus years

One thing most of us have learned is that our once great nation is no better than any banana republic out there. Our education system is in shambles, health care is a joke, etcetera. Underneath the surface we are a paper tiger.

[Harry Monroe]

43. Unfuckingbelievable!!!

That there are still 4 out of 10 people who still believe that Saddam had a hand in 9/11. And 20% believe that the majority of the 9/11 hijackers were Iraqi. Who are these morons??

[pettypace]

45. We may yet still find out there were links

This is like discussing the existence of god, so let me take an agnostic approach.

As time goes on there could be solid evidence of some involvement by the former regime.

As I recall, Saddam was ecstatic after the planes operation, deeming it the "operation of the century".

In other words, if there was another world leader who took elation from the destruction of 2500 Americans, it wasn't more vibrant than in Iraq.

Just something to chew on.

[0rganism]

46. Saddam's exuberance at 9/11 events may have been understandable...

...given over a decade or so of periodic bombings by "coalition forces" of anything in rural Iraq that looked even vaguely like a facility with working plumbing. After a while, that has to grate on the nerves of any leader, let alone a ruthless megalomaniac.

Evidence of Saddam's strong dislike for America and an inexcusable degree of schadenfreude is a far cry from evidence of a collusion with Al Qaeda, especially when Osama Bin Laden went so far as to request Saddam's violent overthrow on the grounds that he was running an insufficiently Islamic republic. For his part, what evidence we do have available suggests that Saddam was far more inclined to view Al Qaeda and comparable Islamic paramilitaries as threats to his centralized power structure than allies to be trusted in a pinch.

As you say, in time we may have evidence linking the two, just as in time we may have evidence that much of the moon is actually green cheese, or of a previously unknown polar habitat for pink flying unicorns. However, collaboration between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda is not nor was it ever a credibly substantiated relationship on which to base sound and forthright policy decisions.

[TheWatcher]

48. I chewed on it.

And then I spat it out.

Thank You for playing.

[TheWatcher]

49. Self Delete.

[pschoeb]

59. Actually he wasn't ecstatic, you just fell for propoganda

The quote "operation of the century" was not made by Saddam, it was supposedly made at a Baghdad TV station by Sa'd Yasin Yusuf, as reported by translation from Israel intelligence analysts, who also simultaneously made the link to Iraq probably being involved, this was on Sept 12 2001. I actually question the complete accuracy of this possible Baghdad TV quote, I'm sure it's meaning and interpretation were skewed, for example "terrorist operation of the century" is perfectly sensible, the rest of the quote from that TV station is hard to get and we get much selective quoting with many ellipses, but largely seems that this Iraq commentator was making a blowback analysis as the cause of the attacks.

Some other quotes were given out on the 12th about Saddam, for example this quote is supposedly from IRNA but I would question the complete accuracy of the translation and of course the ellipses which probably removes Saddam's sentiments of revulsion at the attacks, I'm not sure the source of this translation. Again his analysis seems to be sober blowback, not ecstatic.

"Regardless of...human feelings on what happened yesterday, America is reaping thorns sown by its rulers in the world,"

[IndianaGreen]

47. That's the same percentage that think T-Rex was onboard Noah's Ark

and that homosexuality is something one chooses, like coloring one's hair or shaving in the morning or not.

[TheWatcher]

50. Land Of The Ignorant, Home Of The Uninformed.

[saigon68]

51. K & R

[dkofos]

57. How depressing to know that I live amongst such stupid people

[Sparkly]

58. I don't understand how that number went UP!

It's absolutely amazing in any case -- but how did the number go up?? :wow:

[eowyn_of_rohan]

61. Propaganda?

Why should we believe these figures?

[pschoeb]

62. Well it did rise and it didn't

You have to understand that this poll question was done 5 times by Newsweek.
"Do you think Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq was directly involved in planning, financing, or carrying out the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001?"
.....................YES...NO...Don't know
9/18-19...2003...47...37...16
1/29-30...2004...49...39...12
9/2-3......2004...42...44...13
9/30-10/2.2004...36...51...13


7/18-19...2007...41...50...9


Strangely they didn't do this question again until now, so it's quite possible the huge dive the number took in just 30 days in 2004, was an anomaly and inaccurate. Also the 4% drop in "don't knows" means that some of the uninformed hardened on their surety.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19375611/site/newsweek/

Also there seems to be about 10-15% of the people who are totally and utterly clueless, for example

"As far as you know, has Osama Bin Laden been tracked down and captured by the United States?" 11% said yes and 4% didn't know.

[BigDDem]

63. 40% still pay attention to Cheney?