Chime in if you remember how the "press" in this country pushed for war

[hay rick]

55. The result of the media push.

Article here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_popular_opinion_of_invasion_of_Iraq

From the article:

(In January 2003) Approximately two-thirds of respondents wanted the government to wait for the UN inspections to end, and only 31% supported using military force immediately...

Polls also suggested that most Americans would still like to see more evidence against Iraq, and for UN weapons inspections to continue before making an invasion. For example, an ABC news poll reported than only 10% of Americans favored giving the inspectors less than a few weeks; 41% favored giving them a few weeks, 33% a few months, and 13% more than that.

A consistent pattern in the months leading up to the U.S.-led invasion was that higher percentages of the population supported the impending war in polls that offered only two options (for or against) than in polls that broke down support into three or more options given (distinguishing unconditional support for the war, opposition to the war even if weapons inspectors do their job, and support if and only if inspection crews are allowed time to investigate first).

Some polls also showed that the majority of Americans believed that President Bush had made his case against Iraq. The Gallup poll, for example, found that 67% of those who watched the speech felt that the case had been made, which was a jump from 47% just prior the speech. However, many more Republicans than Democrats watched the speech, so this may not be an accurate reflection of the overall opinion of the American public. An ABC news poll found little difference in the percentage of Americans who felt that Bush has made his case for war after he had made his speech, with the percentage remaining at about 40%.
...

Days before the March 20 invasion, a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll found support for the war was related to UN approval. Nearly six in 10 said they were ready for such an invasion "in the next week or two." But that support dropped off if the U.N. backing was not first obtained. If the U.N. Security Council were to reject a resolution paving the way for military action, 54% of Americans favored a U.S. invasion.
...

(By May 2003) A Gallup poll made on behalf of CNN and USA Today concluded that 79% of Americans thought the Iraq War was justified, with or without conclusive evidence of illegal weapons. 19% thought weapons were needed to justify the war.

Recap: In January, prior to Bush's SOTU, Powell's UN speech, and a lot of media cheer leading- only 31% of Americans thought further weapons inspections were not needed and an immediate invasion was justified. Five months later, 79% of Americans believed that the invasion by the "coalition of the willing" was justified "with or without conclusive evidence of illegal weapons."

The media did their job. I particularly remember Richard Butler providing his "expertise" on Saddam's WMD on CNN...