I’m not even sure how to wrap my ahead around stuff like this. According to a recent poll, a third of the American public believes that we have already discovered WMD in Iraq. And nearly a fourth believes that Iraq actually used chemical and biological weapons during the war. As the article mentions, this is the same American public who believed — or, at least half of them believed, and half is way too many — that Iraqis were flying the planes on 9/11. Read this next line in that David Letterman dumb guy voice, the one he makes while curling up his top lip: “Saudi Arabia, huh? Never heard of it.”
Several analysts said they were troubled by the lack of knowledge about the Sept. 11 hijackers, shown in the January survey conducted for Knight Ridder newspapers. Only 17 percent correctly said that none of the hijackers was Iraqi.
“That really bothers me, because it shows a lack of understanding about other countries – that maybe many Americans don’t know one Arab from another,” said Sam Popkin, a polling expert at the University of California-San Diego who has advised Democratic candidates. “Maybe because Saudis are seen as rich and friendly, people have a hard time dealing with them as hijackers.”
No wonder Toby Keith and that “Have You Forgotten” guy are still leading us all to war. If I lived in terrified ignorance, I’d probably want to drop some bombs, too. (By the way, the AP has now officially put the estimated civilian death toll in Iraq at over 3,240, which means, of course, that our Christian democracy is now responsible for nearly 500 more civilian deaths than the 9/11 hijackers.)