Vol. 56, Issue 1 - Howard University School of Law

Cognitive Foreign Policyof other statements in the two years after 9/11 in which they impliedthat Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or links to Al Qaeda.” 91Research confirms that increased exposure, including exposure tofalse information, increases the likelihood that the information will beaccepted as true. 92Americans held opinions consistent with the false allegations.During the six months prior to attack, several polls revealed that amajority of Americans thought that Iraq was involved in 9/11, and approximately80% believed Iraq was associated with al-Qaeda and possessedweapons of mass destruction (“WMDs”). 93 False perceptionsprolonged into occupation. In a May 2003 poll, the Program on InternationalPolicy Attitudes (“PIPA”) at the University of Marylandfound that 34% of Americans thought WMDs had been discoveredafter the invasion and 22% believed Iraqi forces had used them onU.S. troops. 94 During the 2004 Presidential Election cycle, a pollasked whether “Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when the U.S.invaded,” and 58% of Bush supporters agreed, and 16% of SenatorJohn Kerry voters agreed. 95 In mid-2004, shortly before the 9/11Commission determined that there was “no ‘collaborative relation-91. Lewis & Reading-Smith, supra note 28.92. JOWETT & O’DONNELL, supra note 10, at 174; Peter C. Gordon & Keith J. Holyoak,Implicit Learning and Generalization of the “Mere Exposure” Effect, 45(3) J. PERSONALITY &SOC. PSYCHOL. 492, 492 (1983); J. M. Spectar, Beyond the Rubicon: Presidential Leadership,International Law & The Use of Force in the Long Hard Slog, 22 CONN. J. INT’L L. 47, 90 (2006)(“[The] administration exploited, furthered, manipulated or thrived on the public’s confusion.”);Eric K. Yamamoto, Why the Public Must Compel the Courts to Hold the President Accountablefor National Security Abuses, 68 LAW & CONTEMP. PROBS. 285, 286-87 (2005) (citing a list ofbooks) (“Many have documented this administration’s penchant for deliberate misrepresentationson national security in blunt terms, for lying to the American people about threats at homeand abroad.”); News World: The World According to Bush (CBC news television broadcast Oct.17, 2004), http://www.cbc.ca/passionateeyesunday/feature_171004.html (quoting Harvard ProfessorStanley Hoffman) (“If you repeat a lie often enough, people swallow it.”).93. Bejesky, PCA, supra note 2, at 352-56; Kane Pryor, A National State of Confusion, SA-LON, Feb. 3, 2003, http://www.salon.com/2003/02/06/iraq_poll_2/ (stating that 65% believed thatal-Qaeda and Iraq were “two closely collaborating allies”).94. PROGRAM ON INTERNATIONAL POLICY ATTITUDES, PIPA Knowledge Networks Poll:Americans on Iraq War and Finding WMD, at 1, 4, May 14-18, 2003, http://www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/Iraq/IraqFindWMD_May03/IraqFindWMD%20May03%20quaire.pdf [hereinafterPIPA] (providing that 57% of respondents believed Iraq had WMDs before the war); HARRISINTERACTIVE, The Harris Poll #79: Iraq, 9/11, Al Qaeda, and Weapons of Mass Destruction,What the Public Believes Now, Oct. 21, 2004 (on file with author) (“38 percent believe that Iraqhad weapons of mass destruction when the U.S. invaded.”).95. HARRIS INTERACTIVE, supra note 94; see also Douglas M. McLeod, Derelict of Duty:The American News Media, Terrorism, and the War in Iraq, 93 MARQ. L. REV. 113, 135-36 (2009)(explaining that 49% believed that Iraq possessed WMDs in October 2004, and 41% believedIraq possessed WMDs in March 2006).2012] 19