Are republicans dumb? 63 percent of them believe that Saddam Hussein had Weapons of Mass Destruction when we invaded in 2003, despite even George W. Bush's acknowledgment that he didn't.
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Aw, yes, the party of know-nothings. We are reaching a democratic crisis of some sorts. One major
political party refuses to accept empirical truths. It has become a hall
of ideological mirrors.
WASHINGTON -- How misinformed are Republicans about world affairs? If
presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney's assertion that
Russia is "without question our number one geopolitical foe" is any indication, then the answer would appear to be very.
A new poll supports that theory.
The poll, constructed by Dartmouth government professor Benjamin
Valentino and conducted by YouGov from April 26 to May 2, found that
fully 63 percent of Republican respondents still believed that Iraq had
weapons of mass destruction when the U.S. invaded in 2003. By contrast,
27 percent of independents and 15 percent of Democrats shared that view.
Jim Lobe, chief of the Inter Press Service's Washington bureau, reported the finding in his blog on Wednesday.
The Bush administration's insistence that the Iraqi government had
weapons of mass destruction and might give them to terrorists was a key
selling point in its campaign to take the country to war. It turned out
to be untrue.
Debate continues over whether former President George W. Bush and
Vice President Dick Cheney, and other top officials knew there were no
WMD, but intentionally deceived
the American people and Congress because they were intent on attacking
Iraq for less palatable reasons -- or whether they managed to convince
themselves that it was true using cherry-picked intelligence.
There is no reality-based argument that Iraq actually had WMD, after
extensive searches found none, but this is hardly the first time many
Americans have been certain of something that simply wasn't true.
A Washington Post poll
in September 2003 found that nearly 70 percent of all Americans were
convinced that Saddam Hussein was personally involved in the 9/11
terrorist attacks -- even though he was not.
Bush, Cheney and others consistently linked
al Qaeda to Hussein in speeches they gave in the run-up to war, and the
media rarely pushed back. But neither Bush nor Cheney continued to
claim that there were actual WMDs in Iraq once the searches came up
empty -- although they both continued to insist that Saddam had the
"capability" to produce them.
Rather than a failure of the media, therefore, this latest poll
result seems to indicate a refusal -- unique to the modern Republican
Party -- to acknowledge facts.
According to this poll, an even larger proportion of Republican
respondents who said Iraq had WMD -- 64 percent -- said they have either
always believed (or have come to believe) that Barack Obama was born in
another country, which he was not.
Overall, the poll found Republicans to be considerably more militaristic in their worldview than Democrats and independents.
In a finding that would indicate plenty of GOP support for yet
another war in the Middle East, nearly two-thirds of Republicans said
it's very likely that if Iran produces a nuclear weapon, it would use it
against Israel.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/21/iraq-wmd-poll-cluele...
Top Opinion
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Manuel 2012/06/22 18:17:45Other.
+8Actually it's not the Republican congress that is dumb. They are just hungry oil money evil Barrons out for the rich ...it's mostly the upper, middle and lower class conservative people who are the voters of the Republican party that are dumb because they just go along with all the lies of the GOP.
“President Clinton signed the Iraq Liberation Act into law. Democratic Senators Carl Levin (Michigan), Tom Daschle (North Dakota), John Kerry (Massachusetts), and others had sent a letter to President Clinton urging that he ‘take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspected Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq’s refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs.’”
ref: Douglas J. Feith, War and Decision, (New York, NY: Harper Collins. 2008), p. 182.
And the facts bear out the Conservative side of the argument... 99.6 percent of the time!
Thanks for playing!
And HOW would you have dealt with Saddam Hussein once the GWOT started?
“I know the names of some of those who were involved in smuggling WMDs out of Iraq in 2002 and 2003. I know the names of officers of the front company, SES, who received the weapons from Saddam. I know how and when they were transported and shipped out of Iraq. And I know how many aircraft were actually used and what types of planes they were, as well as a number of other facts of this nature.”
ref: Iraqi General Georges Sada with Jim Nelson Black, Saddam’s Secrets, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2006), 252.
“There are members of the Democratic Party in America who opposed the war today who understood the risks involved in Saddam’s possession of WMDs and said as much at the time. President Clinton’s national Security Adviser, Sandy Berger, warned, ‘He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983.’ So the fact that WMDs were present was never a secret.” (Ibid, p. 253)
“Saddam ordered our weapons teams to hide the WMDs in places no military commander or United Nations weapons inspector would expect to fine them.” (Ibid, p. 258)
“On June 4, 2002, a three-mile-long irrigation dam, which had been drawing water from the Orontes River in the northwes...
“I know the names of some of those who were involved in smuggling WMDs out of Iraq in 2002 and 2003. I know the names of officers of the front company, SES, who received the weapons from Saddam. I know how and when they were transported and shipped out of Iraq. And I know how many aircraft were actually used and what types of planes they were, as well as a number of other facts of this nature.”
ref: Iraqi General Georges Sada with Jim Nelson Black, Saddam’s Secrets, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2006), 252.
“There are members of the Democratic Party in America who opposed the war today who understood the risks involved in Saddam’s possession of WMDs and said as much at the time. President Clinton’s national Security Adviser, Sandy Berger, warned, ‘He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983.’ So the fact that WMDs were present was never a secret.” (Ibid, p. 253)
“Saddam ordered our weapons teams to hide the WMDs in places no military commander or United Nations weapons inspector would expect to fine them.” (Ibid, p. 258)
“On June 4, 2002, a three-mile-long irrigation dam, which had been drawing water from the Orontes River in the northwestern district of Zeyzoun, Syria, collapsed, inundating three small villages and destroying scored so homes.” (Ibid, p. 259)
“But when Syrian president Bashar al-Assad asked for help from Jordan and Iraq, Saddam knew what he would do. For him, the disaster in Syria was a gift, and there, posing as shipments of supplies and equipment sent from Iraq to aid the relief effort, were Iraq’s WMDs.” (Ibid)
“The only aircraft available at the time were one Boeing 747 jumbo jet and a group of Boeing 727s. But this turned out to be the perfect solution to Saddam’s problem. Who would suspect commercial airliners of carrying deadly toxins and contraband technology out of the country, so the planes were quickly reconfigured…Eventually there were fifty-six sorties. Commercial 747s and 727s moved these things out of the country.” (Ibid)
Why did we go into Iraq?
Former Undersecretary of Defense Douglas J. Feith answered that question... in detail here:
“President Clinton signed the Iraq Liberation Act into law. Democratic Senators Carl Levin (Michigan), Tom Daschle (North Dakota), John Kerry (Massachusetts), and others had sent a letter to President Clinton urging that he ‘take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspected Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq’s refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs.’”
ref: Douglas J. Feith, War and Decision, (New York, NY: Harper Collins. 2008), p. 182.
“Lieutenant General James R. Clapper, head of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency during the Iraq war, has been quoted as suggesting that some material had been transferred to Syria: ‘[S]atellite imagery showing a heavy flow of traffic from Iraq into Syria, just before the American invasion in march, led him to believe that illicit weapons material “unquestionably” had been moved out of Iraq.’ Douglas Jehl, ‘The Struggle for Iraq: Weapons Search; Iraqis Removed Arms Material, U.S. Aide Says,’ New York Times, October 29, 2003.” (Ibid, p. 330)
So, why were we in Iraq? Why don't you ask the current Vice President?
“In a Senate speech on January 28, 2003, (Senator Joe) Biden said he would choose to act ‘even if we do not get world support.’ He reasoned as follows:
‘Saddam is in material breach of the latest UN resolution. Yesterday’s damning report by the UN inspectors makes clear again Saddam’s contempt for the world and it has vindicated the President’s (George W. Bush’s) decision last fall to go to the UN. The legitimacy of the Security Council is at stake, as well as the integrity of the UN. So if Saddam does not give up those weapons of mass destruction and the Security Council does not call for the use of force, I think we have little option but to act with a larger group of willing nations, if possible, and alone if we must.’” (Ibid, p. 356)
Instead of burning books, you should try to read them instead. You might learn something!
“I know the names of some of those who were involved in smuggling WMDs out of Iraq in 2002 and 2003. I know the names of officers of the front company, SES, who received the weapons from Saddam. I know how and when they were transported and shipped out of Iraq. And I know how many aircraft were actually used and what types of planes they were, as well as a number of other facts of this nature.”
ref: Iraqi General Georges Sada with Jim Nelson Black, Saddam’s Secrets, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2006), 252.
“There are members of the Democratic Party in America who opposed the war today who understood the risks involved in Saddam’s possession of WMDs and said as much at the time. President Clinton’s national Security Adviser, Sandy Berger, warned, ‘He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983.’ So the fact that WMDs were present was never a secret.” (Ibid, p. 253)
“Saddam ordered our weapons teams to hide the WMDs in places no military commander or United Nations weapons inspector would expect to fine them.” (Ibid, p. 258)
“On June 4, 2002, a three-mile-long irrigation dam, which had been drawing water from the Orontes River in the northwestern district of Zeyzoun, Syria, collapsed, inundating three small vill...
“I know the names of some of those who were involved in smuggling WMDs out of Iraq in 2002 and 2003. I know the names of officers of the front company, SES, who received the weapons from Saddam. I know how and when they were transported and shipped out of Iraq. And I know how many aircraft were actually used and what types of planes they were, as well as a number of other facts of this nature.”
ref: Iraqi General Georges Sada with Jim Nelson Black, Saddam’s Secrets, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2006), 252.
“There are members of the Democratic Party in America who opposed the war today who understood the risks involved in Saddam’s possession of WMDs and said as much at the time. President Clinton’s national Security Adviser, Sandy Berger, warned, ‘He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983.’ So the fact that WMDs were present was never a secret.” (Ibid, p. 253)
“Saddam ordered our weapons teams to hide the WMDs in places no military commander or United Nations weapons inspector would expect to fine them.” (Ibid, p. 258)
“On June 4, 2002, a three-mile-long irrigation dam, which had been drawing water from the Orontes River in the northwestern district of Zeyzoun, Syria, collapsed, inundating three small villages and destroying scored so homes.” (Ibid, p. 259)
“But when Syrian president Bashar al-Assad asked for help from Jordan and Iraq, Saddam knew what he would do. For him, the disaster in Syria was a gift, and there, posing as shipments of supplies and equipment sent from Iraq to aid the relief effort, were Iraq’s WMDs.” (Ibid)
“The only aircraft available at the time were one Boeing 747 jumbo jet and a group of Boeing 727s. But this turned out to be the perfect solution to Saddam’s problem. Who would suspect commercial airliners of carrying deadly toxins and contraband technology out of the country, so the planes were quickly reconfigured…Eventually there were fifty-six sorties. Commercial 747s and 727s moved these things out of the country.” (Ibid)
Why did we go into Iraq?
Former Undersecretary of Defense Douglas J. Feith answered that question... in detail here:
“President Clinton signed the Iraq Liberation Act into law. Democratic Senators Carl Levin (Michigan), Tom Daschle (North Dakota), John Kerry (Massachusetts), and others had sent a letter to President Clinton urging that he ‘take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspected Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq’s refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs.’”
ref: Douglas J. Feith, War and Decision, (New York, NY: Harper Collins. 2008), p. 182.
“Lieutenant General James R. Clapper, head of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency during the Iraq war, has been quoted as suggesting that some material had been transferred to Syria: ‘[S]atellite imagery showing a heavy flow of traffic from Iraq into Syria, just before the American invasion in march, led him to believe that illicit weapons material “unquestionably” had been moved out of Iraq.’ Douglas Jehl, ‘The Struggle for Iraq: Weapons Search; Iraqis Removed Arms Material, U.S. Aide Says,’ New York Times, October 29, 2003.” (Ibid, p. 330)
So, why were we in Iraq? Why don't you ask the current Vice President?
“In a Senate speech on January 28, 2003, (Senator Joe) Biden said he would choose to act ‘even if we do not get world support.’ He reasoned as follows:
‘Saddam is in material breach of the latest UN resolution. Yesterday’s damning report by the UN inspectors makes clear again Saddam’s contempt for the world and it has vindicated the President’s (George W. Bush’s) decision last fall to go to the UN. The legitimacy of the Security Council is at stake, as well as the integrity of the UN. So if Saddam does not give up those weapons of mass destruction and the Security Council does not call for the use of force, I think we have little option but to act with a larger group of willing nations, if possible, and alone if we must.’” (Ibid, p. 356)
Instead of burning books, you should try to read them instead. You might learn something!
They are under educated and proud of it. They are for a Jihad or war anytime. Maybe the Taliban and the Republicans could get together and they would find they have so much in common.
last sentence of George Orwell's "Animal Farm"
Ronald Reagan brought more money into the federal coffers with his tax cuts and business incentives than any other president in history. I can't recall the number off the top of my head, but it was a very large amount. We should have had a surplus and no debt. Instead, Congress -- the democratically-controlled Congress -- spent every last dime they could get their hands on, all in the name of liberalism and stupidity.
And now Obama steps in to outdo them all. And he still wants to continue with his "stimulus" programs. Funny how those "stimulus" programs mostly wound up in ventures owned/operated/heavily invested in by Obama contributors and unions. Hmmm. I'm thinking he wants to continue spending because he hasn't paid all of his cronies back yet; still owes a few favors, methinks. Doesn't matter anyway, he wants this to become a socialist country and he'll do anything he can to accomplish that.
There's also no better litmus test for answering the question "Are you a rt wing demagogic ideologue" than ones inability to admit this enormous foreign policy disaster. A disaster so big it's second only to the Vietnam war.
But the progressives will change history and this event never happened.
It happened when Reagan was President. We invaded 15 years later.
In 15 years Saddam destroyed his WMD, just like he said he did in November 2002.
Speaking of naive, have you checked out the mirror lately?