Back to the Polls

Once again, the White House seems to be reacting to polls on the Iraq War.

In the latest Associated Press poll, only 38% of Americans said they supported the war. But Americans continue to support the War on Terror.

So, once again, President Bush has tried to draw lines from al Qaeda to Iraq in an effort to lead public opinion to support the Iraq War.

This time, President Bush ties Iraq to the videotape of al Qaeda number 2 man, Ayman-al-Zawahiri. Zawahiri released the tape after the deaths of 14 Marines in Iraq, saying there would be bombings in London and more American casualties in Iraq.

Recurring Theme

President Bush has tried to link al Qaeda to Iraq at other times when polls began to show American support for the Iraq War slipping. Most notably, in June during a speech to troops at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

From the Watching Washington post of that speech:

The fight President Bush once defined as against a "grave and growing danger" posed by Iraq possessing WMDs, is now a fight against terrorism.

The speech didn't seem to change any minds at the time.

This was followed by a brief campaign at the time among some Republicans to make the connection in voters' minds. But the ties never seemed to catch on.

Hype vs. History

The 9/11 Commission said in it's final report that Saddam and bin Laden never cooperated:

"Nor have we seen evidence indicating that Iraq cooperated with al Qaeda in developing or carrying out any attacks against the United States."

Even President Bush denied any connection on September 17, 2003:

"We've had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with the September 11 [attacks]."

--President Bush, Sept, 2003

But the change in tone was part of an apparent poll-driven makeover of the administration's approach to selling the Iraq War at home.

The Poll Driven President

It's still unclear if this line of thought led to the brief name change for the War on Terror to the "Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism" (G-SAVE). The idea appeared to make the term more inclusive to take in both the War on Terror and the Iraq War.

The G-SAVE term was used by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and senior administration officials for a few weeks. President Bush appears to have put the kabosh on it after using the older, "War on Terror" term five times in one speech earlier this week. The name change had taken a beating in the press. It was fast becoming the butt of jokes among the President's detractors.

The sudden name switch-back and today's attempt to link the al Qaeda tape to the Iraq War suggests they're studying polls long and hard at the White House. Just like Ford's marketers tried to put a positive spin on the Edsel, or Coke tried with New Coke.

That might work for cars and colas. But it's no way to fight a war. (The Age)