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

Cognitive Foreign PolicyThe problem for the Bush administration is that plans that hadalready existed for regime change in Iraq had to be justified. Theycouldn’t just go in without public support. The public support wascreated by connecting Saddam Hussein to those fears of terrorism –the fear generated by 9/11, the fear of terrorist networks has totransferred to Iraq – that is, people have to learn to be as afraid ofSaddam Hussein as they are of Osama bin Laden. 202In an August 7, 2003 speech, former Vice President Al Gore remarkedthat this linking artifice was a “systematic effort to manipulatefacts” to implant a “false impression.” 203 After combing the texts ofBush administration speeches and commentary, democratic Staff DirectorAnthony Blinken concluded,Read the speeches by Mr. Bush, Mr. Cheney, and Mr. Rumsfeldthroughout the period prior to the war on Iraq after September11th. It’s very subtle. They begin by referring to SaddamHussein, then to September 11th, and finally to bin Laden . . . [I]fsomeone listens with only half-an-ear, such notions mingle andblend, sewing the seeds of the idea in the American people’s mindsthat there’s a link between these three figures and events. 204For example, on September 12, 2002, just hours after a day filledwith 9/11 memorials, Bush addressed the U.N. General Assembly andstated: “In the attacks on America a year ago, we saw the destructiveintentions of our enemies. This threat hides within many nations . . .In cells and camps, terrorists are plotting further destruction, andbuilding new bases for their war against civilization.” 205 Bush thenintersected the alleged danger to Iraq: “In one place – in one regime –we find all these dangers.” 206 After enumerating allegations aboutIraq’s speculative WMD programs, he closed the speech by returningto terrorism: “And if an emboldened regime were to supply these202. MEDIA EDUCATION FOUNDATION, HIJACKING CATASTROPHE: 9/11, FEAR & SELLINGAMERICAN EMPIRE (2006); see also Altheide, supra note 115, at 4 (discussing politics of fear).Political Science Professor John Mueller remarked: “[y]ou get a general fuzz going around: Peopleknow they don’t like al Qaeda, they are horrified by September 11th, they know this guy is abad guy, and it’s not hard to put those things together.” Milbank & Deane, supra note 121.203. Milbank & Deane, supra note 121.204. News World, supra note 92 (interview with Blinken). “The notion was reinforced bythese hints, the discussions that they had about possible links with al Qaeda terrorists.” Milbank& Deane, supra note 121 (providing an explanation by Andrew Kohut, a pollster at Pew ResearchCenter).205. Press Release, White House, President’s Remarks at the United Nations General Assembly(Sept. 12, 2002), available at http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/09/20020912-1.html.206. Id.2012] 35