One in Five

[Jimmyeatworld]

I keep hearing the Democrats throw out a statistic about Iraq and the 9/11 attack. Not sure where they get it as they rarely provide sources, but they keep saying 1 out of every 5 Americans think Iraq attacked us on September 11, 2001. This stat could be true, despite the fact that President Bush clearly stated more than once that there was no evidense of Iraq's direct involvement in the attack.

Ok, so 20% of American's think Iraq was behind the 9/11 attack and, of course, the Dems are trying to blame that on the Bush administration. I just thought it might be fun to take a look at what else Americans think.

*According to a Gallup poll, 53% of Americans between 18-29 don't know who we fought in Europe during World War 2.

*Also according to a Gallup poll, 13% believe creatures such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster exist.

*Fifty-one percent believe they have some form of ESP.

*Two percent believe they have been abducted by aliens.

*Ten percent didn't know George Washington was the first president

*Twenty-two percent didn't know the United States won it's independence from England. (Fourteen percent thought it was France, 1% thought it was Canada.)

*Four percent of American teenagers didn't know George W. Bush was President of the United States.

*In a recent survey held in the San Francisco area, roughly 50% of high school students responding knew that July 4th had something to do with America's independence. Less than half knew the U.S. won their independence from England.

*Six percent of Americans believe employers should be allowed to listen in on employee telephone conversations.

Well, you get the idea. For years people have only been half way paying attention and getting strange ideas about history and the things around them. Plus, attention spans are getting smaller and smaller. Can't blame that on anybody but the people themselves.

I have my own experience with this. On a trivia site, I put together a quiz asking about the year things happened. I would name an event, the person taking the quiz would guess the year. The first question centered around the terrorist attack and the destruction of the twin towers. I thought it was a "gimme" question, everyone should get it right. You know what? Four percent of the people taking that quiz didn't know it happened in 2001.

 

[Comrade]

Then, again, they could have clicked the wrong button, lol!

I do that sometimes.:alco:

 

[UsaPride]

Well, I will admit that on Sept. 11th, when I seen that 2nd plane hit the building and knew the first wasn't an accident, I thought it was Iraq, without Pres. Bush saying word one. But this is because my husband fought in the Gulf War and I listened for 9 years to how Saddam has threatened to kill all Westerners. And call me stupid, but it doesn't matter what the 9/11 commision says, the Democrats say, or even George Bush says, I will continue to believe, somehow, someway, Saddam had something to do with it.

 

[DKSuddeth]

There were a couple of polls taken at the beginning of 04 that had 7 in 10 people believing that hussein was directly responsible for 9/11. There were numerous articles on it about that time.

 

[Hobbit]

*Twenty-two percent didn't know the United States won it's independence from England. (Fourteen percent thought it was France, 1% thought it was Canada.)

What a laugh. If it had been France, it would've ended with the Declaration of Independance. If it had been Canada, it would've ended sooner than that.

On a side note, my Uncle has a British friend who immigrated here, and this year, he celebrated his first 4th of July. Up until that point, he always got together with some other Brits and had a loser's party.

 

[nycflasher]

Originally posted by DKSuddeth
There were a couple of polls taken at the beginning of 04 that had 7 in 10 people believing that hussein was directly responsible for 9/11. There were numerous articles on it about that time.

Yep, this is quite old...

 

[Comrade]

Originally posted by DKSuddeth
There were a couple of polls taken at the beginning of 04 that had 7 in 10 people believing that hussein was directly responsible for 9/11. There were numerous articles on it about that time.

Source?

 

[DKSuddeth]

Originally posted by Comrade
Source?

washpost

shared though

seattlepi

 

[Jimmyeatworld]

Originally posted by Hannitized
Well, I will admit that on Sept. 11th, when I seen that 2nd plane hit the building and knew the first wasn't an accident, I thought it was Iraq, without Pres. Bush saying word one. But this is because my husband fought in the Gulf War and I listened for 9 years to how Saddam has threatened to kill all Westerners. And call me stupid, but it doesn't matter what the 9/11 commision says, the Democrats say, or even George Bush says, I will continue to believe, somehow, someway, Saddam had something to do with it.

I would have to say the same thing. Some of my first thoughts went to Hussien and my gut feeling is still that he was in there some where, though it may just have been financially.
My point in posting this was to say that pulling out all these stats about this percentage thinks this and this percentage thinks that isn't always going to give the whole story. The 53% that think they have some form of ESP is a good example. It depends on how the question was asked and exactly what they were talking about. I get weird feelings sometimes that turn out to be right, but I don't think I have ESP. Things like that could have been considered "some form of ESP" in that poll.

I guess I should have pointed out that there are people like you and me that have our own beliefs and opinions about an indirect involvement. Take those people out of that 20% and the numbers probably fall to about 1 in 10. That's still 10% of people that get their news by reading the headlines on their Yahoo homepage or whatever the guy next to them tells them at work.

 

[Jimmyeatworld]

Originally posted by Comrade
Then, again, they could have clicked the wrong button, lol!

I do that sometimes.:alco:

True, but 4% is kind of high. There had to be some of them that just got it wrong.

 

[Comrade]

Originally posted by DKSuddeth
washpost

shared though

seattlepi

The middle source is based on BLOG and fewer than 200 votes, and fundamentally dependant upon the BLOG's audience in general.


Seattle's PI and the Post seem more credible... assume the poll in either is accurate.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/polls/vault/stories/data082303.htm


How likely is it that Saddam Hussein (INSERT ITEM) ? Would you say that it is very likely, somewhat likely, not very likely, or not at all likely?

--------Likely------- -------Not Likely------ No
NET Very Somewhat NET Not very At all opin.
a. was personally involved in
the September 11 terrorist
attacks 69 32 37 28 15 12 3

--- Commonly accepted is the statement that although Saddam cleary had NO direct connections with 9-11. So what? The first apparent claim this tie existed was under Liberal media, with absolutely no ties to any Republican claim as fact to prove such a statement.

The myth of there being a tie between 9-11 and Saddam was solely invoked by the left (among these polls) knowing full well no claim to the tie was made by the Bush administration.

The 9/11 = Saddam connection was freaked out by the liberal media as if the "2002 SOTU Speech" by Bush was supposed to have drawn this conclusion. But neither you nor the readership or actual audience among this group of liberals can actually point to one statement made to draw this clear link. In fact, the myth of this link was drawn up out of thin air and the left simply ran with it.

Even the Democrat portion of the 9-11 commission agreed: Bush was correct in claming a clear connection between Saddam's regime and it's support for Al-Quada.

The whacky thing was every left paper came out with a headline about how there commission denied any connection between 9-11 & Saddam... hello? Nobody on this board has yet to link to source material from the Bush administration claiming anything so extreme.

Actually the polls from these leftist sources were the first to raise the claim of any link. Whatever Bush said the first time the issue was raised it was in the left media. Whatever stupid American were supposed to think it's their own myth... and once the 9-11 commission came out in agreement with Bush on the connections the headlines were clear... "Bush found to have no proof linking Saddam to 9-11".


Are the smoke and mirrors confusing? Check back to 2002 SOTU or any other recorded statement from Bush or his staff. Find for yourself where the 9-11 and Saddam connection was first brought up as an apparent claim.... smoke and mirrors... search and ye shall find.


b. has provided assistance to
Osama bin Laden and his
terrorist network 82 51 31 14 8 6

--- 82% just happen to be right about their original suspiction... clearly there were connections per the 9-11 commission.

c. was trying to develop weapons
of mass destruction 84 62 22 14 9

--- Yes, obviously true and in line with Iraqi history documented by all parties concerned.


d. had already developed weapons
of mass destruction 78 51 27 19 12

--- Strange that almost 1 in 4 seem to believe the chemical warfare attacks on Iran and the Kurds are a fantasy. Noboby should be so ignorant of Iraqi weapon capability. We know for a fact these weapons existed, used, and stockpiled. We know they existed and still exist.