Majority in U.S. Would Back Attack to Prevent Iran Nuclear Bomb

Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) -- A majority of Americans are skeptical that diplomacy with Iran will succeed and say the U.S. should use military action if necessary to prevent the Iranian government from developing a nuclear weapon.

A Pew Research Center for the People & the Press survey released today found 61 percent of Americans would support a military strike. Twenty-four percent said it is more important to avoid conflict even if that means Iran will end up building nuclear arms.

The survey by the Washington-based group found 63 percent support direct U.S. negotiations with Iran to push the country to abandon its nuclear program. Still, 64 percent said such efforts won’t succeed. The poll was conducted last week, when Iran held talks with the U.S. and other United Nations powers and agreed to widen discussions on the nuclear dispute.

The U.S. and its European allies are concerned that Iran is making headway on acquiring the capability to build a nuclear weapon. Iran told UN nuclear inspectors last month that it is building an underground nuclear-fuel plant, a facility that the U.S., Britain and France said was a secret site.

During an Oct. 1 meeting that took place near Geneva with the U.S., other members of the UN Security Council and Germany, Iran agreed to allow an inspection of the new enrichment facility outside Tehran. The country also agreed to meet with negotiators for the U.S. and other UN members later this month.

The talks were dubbed a “constructive beginning” by President Barack Obama, who urged the Iranian government to follow it with “constructive action.” Speaking at the White House on Oct. 1, Obama said negotiations over Iranian nuclear development can’t go on indefinitely and the U.S. is ready to pressure Iran if the government isn’t responsive.

Iranian Disclosures

Defense Secretary Robert Gates signaled yesterday that Iran has other nuclear facilities to disclose in order to make progress in talks with the U.S. and its European allies.

The U.S. negotiating position depends on “what nuclear sites they’d be prepared to be transparent about that have not been declared at this point,” Gates said at a forum with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Gates has expressed skepticism about the value of an attack. “There is no military option that does anything but buy time,” he said last month.

In the Pew survey, while 78 percent said they would approve of tougher economic sanctions on Iran, 56 percent said they didn’t expect the measures would persuade Iran to drop its nuclear program. The poll was conducted Sept. 30-Oct. 4 among 1,500 adults, with an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Sanctions Hearing

The Senate Banking Committee held a hearing today to discuss possible new sanctions on Iran. The committee’s chairman, Democrat Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, said he would push for comprehensive sanctions legislation this month that would impose penalties on companies that support Iran’s import of refined petroleum products.

A top energy official in the Persian Gulf nation said today that Iran can circumvent any gasoline sanctions the U.S. imposes over its nuclear program by tapping fuel reserves and by switching suppliers.

“If for any reason we are short of gasoline, we will move from one region to another, from one refinery to another,” said Hojatollah Ghanimifard, vice president for investment affairs at the National Iranian Oil Co.

Originally posted by Rook1545
reply to post by dooper

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Honestly, who cares what the American people think about this. I will care what the American people think about going to war when they are going to be going to war against each other.

I honestly believe the American have absolutely no say in what goes on in another country. You all tell everyone else to butt out of YOUR business. Well take your own advice. No one really cares what you people think on foreign affairs. You have shown the past 9 years that cannot be trusted and will make complete mess of things.



You should be the last group of people on earth consulted about who gets attacked.

Results for this survey are based on telephone interviews conducted under the direction of Abt/SRBI Inc. among a nationwide sample of 1,500 adults, 18 years of age or older, from September 30-October 4, 2009 (1125 respondents were interviewed on a landline telephone, and 375 were interviewed on a cell phone, including 141 who had no landline telephone). Both the landline and cell phone samples were provided by Survey Sampling International. Interviews were conducted in English. For detailed information about our survey methodology, see people-press.org...

The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press is one of seven projects that make up the Pew Research Center. The Center is supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

History

The Pew Charitable Trusts, an independent nonprofit, is the sole beneficiary of seven individual charitable funds established between 1948 and 1979 by two sons and two daughters of Sun Oil Company founder Joseph N. Pew and his wife, Mary Anderson Pew.

From its first day in 1948, Pew’s founders steeped the new institution with the entrepreneurial and optimistic spirit that characterized their lives.

Sunoco (NYSE: SUN) is an American petroleum and petrochemical manufacturer headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, formerly known as Sun Company Inc. (1886-1920 and 1976-1998) and Sun Oil Co. (1920-1976).

In Canada, Sunoco is operated by Suncor Energy, a separate Canadian entity. Sunoco is a Fortune 100 Company. It is also the biggest company based in Philadelphia and the 2nd biggest in Pennsylvania behind AmerisourceBergen. Its headquarters are located in the BNY Mellon Center in Center City Philadelphia.[2]

UAE:
Original Concession Holders:

Union Oil Co., venture of Union Oil Co. and Southern Natural Gas Co.

Abu Dhabi Marine Areas Ltd., BP, CFP, Continental

Dubai Marine Areas Ltd., Continental Oil, BP, CFP, Deutche Erdol AG, Sun Oil Co.

Phillips-AGIP-Aminoil, joint venture of Phillips, AGIP, and Aminoil