The poll, conducted Sunday through Wednesday, found that 57% of Americans favor military intervention if Iran's Islamic government pursues a program that could enable it to build nuclear arms. Posted on 01/27/2006 2:01:22 AM PST by M. Espinola
WASHINGTON — Despite persistent disillusionment with the war in Iraq, a majority of Americans supports taking military action against Iran if that country continues to produce material that can be used to develop nuclear weapons, a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has found.
The poll, conducted Sunday through Wednesday, found that 57% of Americans favor military intervention if Iran's Islamic government pursues a program that could enable it to build nuclear arms.
Support for military action against Tehran has increased over the last year, the poll found, even though public sentiment is running against the war in neighboring Iraq: 53% said they believe the situation there was not worth going to war.
The poll results suggest that the difficulties the United States has encountered in Iraq have not turned the public against the possibility of military actions elsewhere in the Middle East.
Support for a potential military confrontation with Iran was strongest among Republican respondents, among whom 76% endorsed the idea. But even among Democrats, who overwhelmingly oppose the war in Iraq, 49% supported such action.
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(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Got that right. Polls are useless....except for giving people stuff to write about.
I totally agree. I really wonder about this. The head of Iran is obviously off the reservation, and should be moved out of power asap. Does he really think that he can take on the U.S. AND Israel and have a prayer?
No, they'd find some reason to blame it on Bush in the first place. You know, the old "you didn't protect us" followed by "you did nothing". They can never make up their minds.
It is really scary to realize how many people out there would do almost anything to avoid a war, including giving up to terrorists and believing they can "negotiate" their way out of a mess.........................
Where is Patton when you need him?
Yeah, but if that military action takes more than a week, they'll start screaming about an unjust war. Americans don't have the zeal they once had (WWII). We live in a new society of instant gratification, and it will be the ruin of us.
You put that very eloquently, and so true. I couldn't have said it better myself.
Good question. Recall just prior to jihadist 'homicide bombers' self detonating to slaughter scores of "infidels", through brainwashing they firmly believe the second the blow up and kill the "infidel" they will attain a far higher level in Islamic "Paradise" and all the rest of the spoon feed Islamic fringe benefits a jihadic terrorist gets as rewards for murdering Israelis, Americans, Coalition troops & other "nonbelievers".
Iran's top tyrant really believes this line as well. Remember Hitler actually thought he could defeat both England, then the USSR, coupled with the United States once we entered the war. Identical to Hitler & the chief Nazis, Ahmadinejad, Motaki, and the rest of the recent hand picked Iranian leadership have sworn to destroy millions of Jews and the Jewish homeland of Israel, something Hitler attempted to prevent from returning after some 2000 years, during the Holocaust. This appalling, driven hatred will result in the current Iranian régime's downfall - the hard way.
Daniel Pipes, wrote an enlightening article discussing Ahmadinejad’s religious beliefs and how central they are to his leadership. “Thanks to the president of Iran … a new word has entered the political vocabulary: mahdaviat,” Pipes wrote. Derived from mahdi, Arabic for “rightly guided one,” the word applies to a major figure in Islamic eschatology. Mahdi, as the Encyclopedia of Islam explains, is “the restorer of religion and justice who will rule before the end of the world.”
The belief of a returning Mahdi, or 12th imam, is a central doctrine among the most populous group of Shiites (known as Ithna Ashari, or “Twelvers”), to which President Ahmadinejad belongs. Ahmadinejad is a staunch believer in the "mahdaviat", which is “belief in and efforts to prepare for the Mahdi.” Put simply, he believes the Mahdi will return within two years and that it is his job to prepare the way for his return. Columnist Charles Krauthammer likened Ahmadinejad’s belief in the return of the Mahdi, or 12th imam, to the belief within Judaism and Christianity of the messianic return.
"mir Mohebian, political editor of the Islamic Resalat newspaper, discussed the impact of Ahmadinejad’s religion on his leadership. “This kind of mentality makes you very strong. … If you think these are the last days of the world, and Jesus will come [again], this idea will change all your relations.” Putting himself in Ahmadinejad’s shoes, he stated, “If I think the Mahdi will come in two, three or four years, why should I be soft? Now is the time to stand strong, to be hard.” Today, Iranian foreign policy is dictated by the Shiite belief in the return of the Mahdi."
Lawrence Weinstein a Renew-America columnist wrote the following on January 15th, 2006: "There is suspicion that Ahmadinejad's religious beliefs may make him more likely to do whatever he deems necessary to prepare for the coming of the Mahdi. The Mahdi was the last Imam descended from Ali, the founder of Shi'ism. Ahmadinejad has stated that to prepare for the Mahdi, who died in 941, Iranians "must be pure and devout." Upon taking the reigns of the Iranian presidency this past June, Ahmadinejad spent the equivalent of $21 Million U.S. dollars on expanding the Mahdi shrine and mosque. Also, according to the Philadelphia Inqurier, he has fired veteran diplomats, bank directors, and government ministers that he believed were too liberal, campaigned for an even more restrictive dress code for women and promised to Islamize Iranian universities.
Ahmadinejad's latest move in his reinvigoration of the 1979 revolution and prepare for the return of the Mahdi was to ban all Western Music from Iranian state radio and TV stations.
Ahmadinejad seems to have the conviction that preparation for the Mahdi is necessary. He seems to believe that abiding by the spirit of the Islamic Revolution is a way to hasten the Mahdi's return. If in the twisted mind of Ahmadinejad, the thought becomes that attacking the West or Israel with nuclear weapons killing non-believers would allow Iran to become more pure and thus hasten the return of the Mahdi, is there any doubt that Ahmadinejad would follow through? Shaul Bakhash, an Iranian scholar at the George Mason University, states that Ahmadinejad speaks, "from personal conviction." A frightening thought indeed.
"Six former hostages told the Associated Press that they were certain that Ahmadinejad not only was one of the hostage takers but that he played a supervisory role. Even Ahmadinejad's official biography provides a link to the 1979-1981 hostage crisis. Specifically, it reveals that he was a member of the Office for Strengthening Unity, the organization that took over the American embassy in Tehran. Finally, in July 2005, Scott McClellan, White House Press Secretary admitted "We [The U.S.] know he [Ahmadinejad] was a leader of the student movement that organized the attack on the embassy and the taking of American hostages."
The most alarming example of Iran's recent state-sanctioned hatred, on October 26th, 2005, Ahmadinejad quoted Ayatollah Khomeini, the Islamic Republic's founder, in stating, "The regime occupying Jerusalem must be eliminated from the pages of history." Ahmadinejad's horrid recitation of a previous utterance by Khomenei was given at a conference entitled the "World Without Zionism." Banners at this conference called for Israel to be "wiped off the map." The banners were displayed in English. Indeed the Iranians were trying to send a message to the West that they should be taken seriously. source
27 years worth is a lot of payback. It's amazing to see Jimmy Carter 'monitoring' the terrorist election of Hamas. Some things never change.
Apparently it is a myth that ostriches bury their heads in the sand in the face of an unwanted reality, but it is true in the case of Liberals.
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