Heads in the sand

On NPR's Talk of the Nation program today (oh yes, that bastion of left-leaning liberal media biase) there was a story about a study that shows that the majority of Republicans and Bush Supporters still think Iraq has (had) WMD (audio story link). The study, carried out by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA), shows that the majority of Bush supporters had WMD and or a major program to develop WMD that was supported by al Qaeda. Not too surprisingly, the majority of Kerry supporters believe the opposite. And again not surprisingly, supporters of both candidates agreed that the US should not have gone to war without definite proof that such a program or actual WMD existed in Iraq in the first place.

But this is where it gets interesting. Even after the Duelfer report (CIA) to Congress that says Iraq did not have a viable WMD program, the majority of Bush supporters continue to believe that Iraq did, and in fact, perceive that the 9/11 Commission actually concluded the exact opposite! Bush supporters want to believe that the US went to war for justifiable reasons and want to believe the Administration. However, what do they do if the facts and what the President says doesn't agree? In a quote from the PIPA director Steven Kull:

"To support the president and to accept that he took the US to war based on mistaken assumptions likely creates substantial cognitive dissonance, and leads Bush supporters to suppress awareness of unsettling information about prewar Iraq."

In other words, they're soooo confused!

The complete report (go here) is well worth reading.