December 12, 2007 – New York – “Americans don’t buy the intelligence estimate, released last week, that Iran has stopped its nuclear weapons program,” says American Jewish Committee Executive Director David A. Harris in his national radio message.  “Rasmussen Reports, a national polling group, found that only 18 percent of Americans believe Iran has given up its drive to build a nuclear bomb.”

Harris’s weekly messages on the CBS radio network air during the Osgood File. All AJC radio commentaries since 2001 are available at www.ajc.org.

The full text of this week’s commentary follows:

A new national poll on Iran has just been conducted.

The results are revealing.

Americans don’t buy the intelligence estimate, released last week, that Iran has stopped its nuclear weapons program.

Rasmussen Reports, a national polling group, found that only 18 percent of Americans believe Iran has given up its drive to build a nuclear bomb.

By contrast, an overwhelming 66 percent disagree.

Moreover, 77 percent of Americans believe that Iran is very, or somewhat, likely to develop a nuclear weapon in the future.

And, by a margin of 3-1, those polled say that America should continue to impose economic sanctions on Iran.

Iran is enriching uranium it doesn’t need. It’s building long-range missiles. And its leaders call America the enemy.

As they say, if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.

The American people understand that we need to stay alert.

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