Fearing Fear

Paul Krugman / New York Times

[...]

For one thing, there isn’t actually any such thing as Islamofascism — it’s not an ideology; it’s a figment of the neocon imagination. The term came into vogue only because it was a way for Iraq hawks to gloss over the awkward transition from pursuing Osama bin Laden, who attacked America, to Saddam Hussein, who didn’t. And Iran had nothing whatsoever to do with 9/11 — in fact, the Iranian regime was quite helpful to the United States when it went after Al Qaeda and its Taliban allies in Afghanistan.

Beyond that, the claim that Iran is on the path to global domination is beyond ludicrous. Yes, the Iranian regime is a nasty piece of work in many ways, and it would be a bad thing if that regime acquired nuclear weapons. But let’s have some perspective, please: we’re talking about a country with roughly the G.D.P. of Connecticut, and a government whose military budget is roughly the same as Sweden’s.

Meanwhile, the idea that bombing will bring the Iranian regime to its knees — and bombing is the only option, since we’ve run out of troops — is pure wishful thinking. Last year Israel tried to cripple Hezbollah with an air campaign, and ended up strengthening it instead. There’s every reason to believe that an attack on Iran would produce the same result, with the added effects of endangering U.S. forces in Iraq and driving oil prices well into triple digits.

[...]

And Mike Huckabee, whom reporters like to portray as a nice, reasonable guy, says that if Hillary Clinton is elected, “I’m not sure we’ll have the courage and the will and the resolve to fight the greatest threat this country’s ever faced in Islamofascism.” Yep, a bunch of lightly armed terrorists and a fourth-rate military power — which aren’t even allies — pose a greater danger than Hitler’s panzers or the Soviet nuclear arsenal ever did.

All of this would be funny if it weren’t so serious.

[...]

Just to be clear, Al Qaeda is a real threat, and so is the Iranian nuclear program. But neither of these threats frightens me as much as fear itself — the unreasoning fear that has taken over one of America’s two great political parties.

Read it all after the click ...

My thought:

• Global Military spending in 2005 = $1,001 Billion



• US Military spending in 2005 = $420.7 Billion
  
  (or roughly 42% of the total military spending for the ENTIRE PLANET ... it has not changed significantly in the two intervening years between 2005 and the present ... and this number does not include the supplementary spending bills passed by Congress specifically to fund actions in Afghanistan and Iraq ... this is just the normal, non-war, operating budget. When taken in total, the budget plus the supplementary spending provisions, the US spends MORE than 50% of the total Global Military budget )



• Iran Military spending 2005 = $4.9 Billion
  
  (less than 1/2 of 1% of the total military spending for the entire planet; or roughly 1% of the military budget for the United States)



• Who has nuclear weapons and how many do they have?
  
  
  
  (Note that Iran is NOT on the list of nations that have nuclear weapons. Also note that Pakistan, the place where Ossama bed Linen is hiding out and where al Qaeda has a "don't ask, don't tell" agreement with the ruling, right-wing, military dictatorship government friendly to the US and which is a huge help in the war on terror -- DOES have nuclear weapons.)
  
  (Keep in mind that Pakistan's chief nuclear scientist, A.Q. Khan, was caught red handed selling nuclear secrets to the highest bidder not too long ago. The consequences? He got a little slap on the wrist only because our government demanded something be done about it.)

If that doesn't give you a little perspective about the size of the latest boogieman that has all those Curly, Larry and Mo sounds coming out of the Right, nothing will and you're beyond hope.


Wo, wo, wo, wo, wo, wo, wo!