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we lefties reminded each other of back before the war started is that common citizens who don't understand things like the tight connection between "independent analysts" and the military is that citizens aren't stupid.
When you have a housewife who's preparing dinner, calling on the kids to set the table, asking the husband when he's coming down and who's trying to keep up with the news, she sees Osama bin Laden on the TV set and there's a "crawl" underneath that refers to Saddam Hussein and when this happens time after time, well, she's quite naturally going to reach the conclusion that bin Laden and Hussein are somehow connected.
I worked in a corporation for a little while a few years back and had a pro-Bush workmate. I explained to her that no, Saddam Hussein did not give money to the families of the 9-11 hijackers, the people he allegedly gave money to were Palestinians, who were opposed to Israel, not America.
I could see that I was drawing distinctions that were way over her head and got a blank look of confusion from her, so I didn't try to explain it further. Natcherly, she was senior to me in the workplace, so her confusion in lumping together all the "bad guys" of the Middle East meant absolutely nothing in terms of when she gave me workplace instructions.
