Most Americans don't believe Bush on Iraq
AFP, Washington
For the first time since the beginning of the Iraq war, a solid majority of Americans believe that the Bush Administration either "stretched the truth" about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction or told outright lies, according to a new opinion survey made public on Tuesday.The poll by the University of Maryland found that 52 per cent of respondents said they believed President George W Bush and his aides were "stretching the truth, but not making false statements" about Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's chemical, biological and nuclear programmes. Another 10 per cent said that US officials were presenting Congress, the American public and the international community "evidence they knew was false," indicated the survey. Only 32 per cent said that they thought the government was being "fully truthful" about the Iraqi arsenal. The weapons of mass destruction as well as the Iraqi government's alleged ties to the Al-Qaeda, which the administration claimed represented an immediate threat to the United States, served as the chief rationale for launching the March 20 invasion of the country. But even after over three months since the start of the war, US troops have yet to find any of the suspected weapons. Similarly, 56 per cent of those polled believed that the US government stretched the truth or made outright false statements about Hussein's ties to Al-Qaeda. The nationwide survey of 1,051 people was conducted from June 18 to 25 and had a margin of error of 3.5 per cent.
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