The Truth Will Out

I'm getting in a small reading break while my husband, manning the staple gun, catches up on tacking down the insulation I just put in place all over the garage. I'm trying not to touch anything inside the house, and I covered the chair I'm in with an old towel, to keep from spreading scratchiness all over the place. Hopefully it'll be enough not to make me regret caving to my longing for news and information. The lure of the computer is just too strong. I just can't resist the call of the Internet while I've got a minute or two free, but Ked'll be done soon, and then it's back to work for me. Once he's finished his stapling duties we get to tackle the ceiling together--definitely a two person job. I've already discovered that this batch of insulation is sentient, and has a twisted sense of humor, finding it ever so funny to fall down on my head while I'm trying to place it gently into its new home. Hmph!! You try to be kind, and what does it get you? Itchy eyes, nose, arms, neck....

Anyway, since I don't have lots of time, I went to the human filter of almost everything worth knowing on the Internet. Instapundit sent me to The Washington Times, which has informed me that truth is starting to overcome media indoctrination regarding WMD and Iraq. Jennifer Harper, writing for The Times, reports on the findings of a Harris poll, and says:

Half of Americans now say Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when the United States invaded the country in 2003 -- up from 36 percent last year, a Harris poll finds. Pollsters deemed the increase both "substantial" and "surprising" in light of persistent press reports to the contrary in recent years.

Some of the shift in public opinion has come since the press conference in June where Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) and Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-NY) announced the discovery of 500 or so Desert Storm era chemical weapons, with mustard or sarin nerve agent, the information coming from newly declassified documents.

There are other indications in the poll that American opinion is not all negative on Iraq as well:

Meanwhile, the Harris poll offered some positive feedback on Iraq. Seventy-two percent of respondents said the Iraqi people are better off now thanunder Saddam Hussein's regime -- a figure similar to that of 2004, when it stood at 76 percent. In addition, 64 percent say Saddam had "strong links" with al Qaeda, up from 62 percent in October 2004. Fifty-five percent said that "history will give the U.S. credit for bringing freedom and democracy to Iraq."

And although the response is tepid, American confidence in the Iraqis has improved: 37 percent said Iraq would succeed in creating a stable democracy, up five points since November.

Americans remain in touch with the realities of Iraq: 61 percent said the conflict has motivated more Islamic terrorists to attack the U.S. -- a number that has remained virtually unchanged since 2004.

I'm not generally too big on polling, especially political polling. The only poll that really counts politically is the one on election day, but Harper's article is interesting nonetheless. I do find it encouraging that information seems to make it to the people these days despite media reporting, or lack thereof. This thing we call the Internet has proven so useful in letting those of us who want more information than we can get from our local fish wrap satisfy our desire. Of course, you have to be careful on the Net, too, there's so much information, a good deal of it wrong, that you have to be sure you can trust your sources there, as well. However, at least online I can read everything from Instapundit to The Washington Times, and am not just stuck with what the local paper and network news anchors send my way. Choice is good.

Speaking of choices, my husband now informs me that I only have one available, and that's the choice to come out and take up my itchy toil once again. So, off I go. Feel free to pity us--unless you'd like to volunteer...? (Just kidding. The job will mercifully be done by the times anyone reads this. Aren't you glad?)