About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

118 Pol. Sci. Q. 569 (2003-2004)
Misperceptions, the Media, and the Iraq War

handle is hein.journals/pclscceqry118 and id is 569 raw text is: 




            Misperceptions, the Media,

            and   the   Iraq   War











                                                        STEVEN KULL
                                                        CLAY RAMSAY
                                                          EVAN LEWIS

            The  Iraq war and its aftermath have raised compelling questions
about the capacity of the executive branch to elicit public consent for the use
of military force and about the role the media plays in this process. From the
outset, the Bush administration was faced with unique challenges in its effort
to legitimate its decision to go to war. Because the war was not prompted by an
overt act against the United States or its interests, and was not approved by the
UN  Security Council, the Bush administration argued that the war was neces-
sary on the basis of a potential threat. Because the evidence for this threat was
not fully manifest, the Bush administration led the public to believe that Iraq
was developing weapons  of mass destruction (WMD)  and providing substantial
support to the al Qaeda terrorist group. The challenge for the administration
was later intensified when the United States occupied Iraq and was unable to
find the expected corroborating evidence.
    From the outset the public was sympathetic to the idea of removing Saddam
Hussein, though  only a small minority of Americans was  ready to go to war
with Iraq without UN Security Council approval.' The majority was inclined to
believe that Iraq had a WMD program  and was supporting al Qaeda. However,

  'Asked in a Chicago Council on Foreign Relations poll in June 2002 about their position on invad-
ing Iraq, 65 percent said the United States should only invade Iraq with UN approval and the support
of its allies; 20 percent said the US should invade Iraq even if we have to go it alone; and 13 percent
said the US should not invade Iraq.

STEVEN  KULL is the director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA), a joint pro-
gram of the Center on Policy Attitudes and Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland
of the School of Public Affairs, University of Maryland.
CLAY  RAMSAY  is the director of research at PIPA.
EVAN  LEWIS is a research associate at PIPA.


Political Science Quarterly Volume 118 Number 4 2003-04


569

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

profiles profiles most