Voter Ignorance and the War in Iraq
The war in Iraq is viewed as being one of the most controversial decisions of the US foreign policy of the last decade. There have been numerous discussions over the morality of the intervention on a sovereign territory, without the agreement of the United Nations and, in the end, without a plausible reason for attack. Nonetheless, by 2003, the US led coalition had entered Iraq under the argument of the existence of the weapons of mass destruction. Still, to this day, it is a rather questionable issue the actual existence of the weapons; therefore, there is no full legitimacy of the intervention in a sovereign country. In relation to the military reason invoked by the proponents of the war in Iraq, the terrorist threat was also a disturbing aspect that had to be dealt with at the time. Therefore, the quest against the Al Qaeda network became the centerpiece of the military and political endeavors since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Nonetheless, in the American democratic system, the approval of the public opinion is essential for accepting a certain policy. In the matter of the Iraqi war however, it can be argued that the public opinion was somewhat mislead and there was a limited accuracy in the presentation of the actual facts re
From this point of view, it tried to underline these elements in considering the issues of Al Qaeda and the threats it posed. And, from this point of view, Christopher Shea remarks that "incumbents get a 5-percentage-point boost from voter ignorance, because the fallback position of uninformed voters is to pull the lever for a name they've at least heard of19". The 9/11 events represented one of the most important historical events of the recent decades. He thus insists on the argument of the nationalistic desires Osama bin Laden nurtures, the reason for which his group is also supported to a certain extent by various segments of the societies that shelter them. In this sense, "attitudes have become more negative, and are now almost reversed. For instance, David Ciepley considers that voter ignorance is in fact a natural consequence of the actual awareness of the fact that the personal vote has no relevance to the policy issues under discussion and on which in a democratic system they are required to present a voting choice. The success of the American policy in determining the wide support especially for the war against terrorism and against the Al Qaeda network can be explained in different means. Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon consider in this sense that there can be no clear separation of the beliefs advocated by Al Qaeda and the Islamic teachings15; therefore it can be a matter of religious motivation. The ease with which the public accepted and integrated the theory of preemptive war in the collective system of values is the result, according to certain analysts, of voter ignorance. Thirdly, the issue of religion was important to point out in the case of the Islamic group because it was a point of reference the Americans could have identified with. In order to have a proper understanding of the way in which the public opinion and especially the low interest in politics from the American voters was used in the wider equation of justifying the war in Iraq and the fight against Al Qaeda, it is important to take into account several issues that play a significant role in establishing the general framework of the situation. There is limited interest for the actual process of elections and even less for the campaigning issues under discussion. Christopher Shea underlines this point by arguing that "voters have a hard enough time remembering the candidates' names and their parties (. From this point of view, the tendency is rather conservative. As a terrorist organization, Al Qaeda is widely perceived as the core essence of fundamental Islamism, and its actions are, according to most conservator analysts the result of religious extremism12.
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