Informed Comment: Global Affairs
on July 6 of this year, a survey showed that "60 percent of Americans opposed a war with Iran." Now, however, he claims, "a majority of Americans now favor military action against Iran." The July poll from Angus Reid asked, "If the U.S. government decides to take military action in Iran, would you favour or oppose it?" 63% said they would oppose it.
The recent Zogby poll asked if voters "would support a U.S. military strike to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon." 52% said yes.
As anyone with the most microscopic acquaintance with polling knows, these are not the same questions. Iran says it is not building a nuclear weapon. The International Atomic Energy Agency (whose record on such matters is far more reliable than that of the Weekly Standard) says it has no evidence that Iran is building a nuclear weapon. Fareed Zakaria of Newsweek, noting that the rhetoric on Iran of people like Goldfarb "has lost all connection to reality," reminds us that "Iran doesn't have a nuclear button yet and won't for at least three to eight years, according to the CIA."
Given these "facts," (sorry to bring that up), a military strike by the U.S. against Iran now and a military strike to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon are not the same thing. The latter is invoked to justify the former.
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