Last September, polls still
showed a strong majority of Americans opposed to plans to invade and occupy Iraq.
So one year ago this week, a well-scripted media blitz was launched to scare
Americans into changing their minds.
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<font color=red>"We do know, with absolute certainty, that [Saddam Hussein] is using his
procurement system to acquire the equipment he needs in order to enrich uranium
to build a nuclear weapon,"</font> Vice President Dick Cheney claimed to NBC viewers on
Sept. 8. "We're to the point where time is not on our side."
On Fox News that day, the theme was echoed by Secretary of State Colin Powell.
"I just know that time is not on our side," he said. A few channels over on CBS,
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld added to the chorus, warning again that <font color=red>"time
is not on our side."</font>
National Security Adviser Condi Rice, appearing on CNN that day, asked how long
America dared to wait. After all, she said, <font color=red>"we don't want the smoking gun to be a
mushroom cloud,"</font> a warning of imminent danger that President Bush himself would
repeat almost word for word in a televised speech to the nation a few weeks later.
....
Just a year ago, 64 percent of Europeans still supported a strong U.S. presence in
world affairs. Today, according to a poll conducted by the German Marshall Fund,
that number has fallen to 45 percent. By our arrogance, we have squandered much
of our hard-earned support around the world. |
