Reality Check: The Truths And Lies In War Ads

Sep 21, 2007 10:40 pm US/Central

Pat Kessler
Reporting

(WCCO) The ad supporting the war includes misleading claims, featuring a well-known Minnesota solider severely injured in Iraq.

"They attacked us and they will again. They won't stop in Iraq," the ad says.

This is a DISTORTION of the facts.

There is no link between the 9/11 in American and Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

That's according to the Pentagon, the White House and the bi-partisan 9/11 Commission, but millions of Americans believe there is a link.

IN FACT ... the most recent CBS News poll found 33 percent of Americans believe Saddam Hussein was directly involved in 9/11.

That's one out of every three people who believe it, despite evidence to the contrary.

Here's what you NEED TO KNOW.

The ad supporting the war is produced by a group called Freedom's Watch.

It's a Republican pro-war group, headed by former Bush White House press secretary Ari Fleisher.

And though the ad claims "it's no time for politics," that appears to be exactly what it is.

"I know what I lost," says the ad. "But I also know if we pull out now, everything I have given in sacrifice will mean nothing."

There's more to this story.

The soldier speaking in the ad is a Minnesotan.

John Kreisel lost both his legs last year in a bomb blast in Fallujah.

And the ad is targeting Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman -- not to waver in his support for the war.

That's Reality Check.