|
Harris Poll: Despite News Reports, More Americans Believe Iraq Had WMD
by
Jim Kouri, CPP
Despite being widely reported in the mainstream news media that the US and
other countries have not found any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, as
well as Democrat talking points that Bush lied about WMD, more Americans
(50%) think that Iraq had such weapons when the US-led coalition invaded
Iraq.
This is a 14 percent increase from February 2005, when only 36 percent
thought Iraq had WMD. This may be attributed to the recent discovery of an
intelligence report describing over 500 shells containing WMD being found
by US military forces in Iraq.
However, some attitudes toward the war in Iraq are negative and some
positive. For instance, less than half of Americans polled believe that
the threat of terrorism has been reduced. Also, US adults are not
confident that Iraq's government will eventually become stable, and many
think the war in Iraq is continuing to hurt respect for the U.S. around
the world. Most people do not think that US troops will be out of Iraq in
the next two years.
US adults believe that the following are true about the war in Iraq:
-- Seventy-two percent (72%) believe that the Iraqis are better off
now than they were under Saddam Hussein (slightly down from February 2005
when 76 percent said this was true).
-- Just over half (55%) think history will give the US credit for
bringing freedom and democracy to Iraq (down substantially from 64% in
February 2005).
-- Sixty-four percent(64%) say it is true that Saddam Hussein had
strong links to Al Qaeda (the same as 64% in February 2005).
The public's views on Iraq have not changed substantially in the past
year:
-- A majority (56%) thinks that spending huge sums of money to invade
and occupy Iraq has meant that a lot less money has been available to
protect the United States against another terrorist attack. This has
decreased from April 2005 when 62 percent agreed with this sentiment.
-- Still, six in 10 (61%) adults agree (59% in April 2005) that
invading and occupying Iraq has motivated more Islamic terrorists to
attack the United States.
-- By 58 to 41 percent, a clear majority does not think that invading
Iraq has helped to reduce the threat of another terrorist attack against
the United States. This is similar to the 61 to 39 percent majority that
felt this way in April 2005.
Discuss This Article
Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National
Association of Chiefs of Police and he's a staff writer for the New Media
Alliance (thenma.org). He's former chief at a New York City housing
project in Washington Heights nicknamed "Crack City" by reporters covering
the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public
safety at a New Jersey university and director of security for several
major organizations. He's also served on the National Drug Task Force and
trained police and security officers throughout the country. Kouri
writes for many police and security magazines including Chief of Police,
Police Times, The Narc Officer and others. He's a news writer for
TheConservativeVoice.Com. He's also a columnist for AmericanDaily.Com,
MensNewsDaily.Com, MichNews.Com, and he's syndicated by AXcessNews.Com.
He's appeared as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and
talk shows including Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, Fox
News, etc. His book Assume The Position is available at Amazon.Com.
Kouri's own website is located at
http://jimkouri.us
The opinions expressed in
this column represent those of the author and do not necessarily reflect
the opinions, views, or philosophy of TheRealityCheck.org
|
