Reader Dan: Making Decisions Based on Misleading Information

Reader Dan sends along a link to this Boston Globe story:

WASHINGTON — In defending the Iraq war, leading Republican presidential contenders are increasingly echoing words and phrases used by President Bush in the run-up to the war that reinforce the misleading impression that Iraq was responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

In the May 15 Republican debate in South Carolina, Senator John McCain of Arizona suggested that Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden would “follow us home” from Iraq — a comment some viewers may have taken to mean that bin Laden was in Iraq, which he is not.

Former New York mayor Rudolph Guiliani asserted, in response to a question about Iraq, that “these people want to follow us here and they have followed us here. Fort Dix happened a week ago. “

However, none of the six people arrested for allegedly plotting to attack soldiers at Fort Dix in New Jersey were from Iraq.

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney identified numerous groups that he said have “come together” to try to bring down the United States, though specialists say few of the groups Romney cited have worked together and only some have threatened the United States.

Dan adds:

Citizens need realistic information to make rational decisions. How does anyone make rational decisions about an Islamic threat with this sort of nonsense being handed out as information?

This is cactus again… I would go farther. I’ve always found that I can’t be an expert on everything, or even very many things, so its necessary to have some trust in other peoples’ judgements. Which other people should I trust? Well, if someone misleads or flat out lies on something that I have a bit of information about, I’m not going to trust them on other things either. Everyone makes mistakes, but most of us stop when our mistakes are pointed out. What can one make of candidates for President that don’t.