Dickey, old fruit, of course the US population wasn't persuaded by that one speech; it was persuaded by an insidious drip of misinformation and distorted truths from all across the administration and from the propagandists in Fox News and in the ranting pulpits across the USA.
Google Iraq, Saddam and 9/11 and you will see that the link has been made time and again. You are not a stupid man, so why the wilful refusal to accept that, and instead to hide behind syllogisms and hair-splitting?