The AP runs a nasty article today:

Do you believe in Iraqi "WMD"? Did Saddam Hussein's government have weapons of mass destruction in 2003?

Half of America apparently still thinks so, a new poll finds, and experts see a raft of reasons why: a drumbeat of voices from talk radio to die—hard bloggers to the Oval Office, a surprise headline here or there, a rallying around a partisan flag, and a growing need for people, in their own minds, to justify the war in Iraq.

People tend to become "independent of reality" in these circumstances, says opinion analyst Steven Kull.

There are plenty of reasons to think Saddam had an active WMD program, as Douglas Hanson and others have pointed out. One might expect people in the news business to be better informed.

hat tip: Bookworm Room

Thomas Lifson  8 06 06