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To: Joseph_CutlerUSA
aww come on. I just laid out a great set of practical reasons, and you won't cut any slack on the definition of major???

Here's some info on the IDF from http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/Israeli_Defence_Force

Israel is the only nuclear power in the middle east. Although the government has never officially admitted it, nuclear weapons were developed at the Dimona site in the 1960s, with the first two nuclear bombs probably operational before the six-day war. It is widely reported that Prime Minister Eshkol ordered them armed in Israel's first nuclear alert during thar war. It is also reported that, fearing defeat in the October 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Israelis assembled 13 twenty-kiloton nuclear bombs.

The current size and composition of Israel's nuclear stockpile is uncertain, and is the subject of various estimates and reports. Isreal probably has 100-200 nuclear warheads, which can be delivered by airplanes (F-4 Phantom II), or ballistic missiles (Lance, Jericho, or Jericho II missiles). The Jericho II is reported to have a range between 1,500 and 4,000 kms, meaning that it can target sites as far away as central Russia.

Military branches:

IDF

Ground

Air

Navy

Pioneer Fighting Youth (Nahal)

Frontier Guard

Military manpower - military age: 18 years of age

Military expenditures - dollar figure: $8.7 billion (FY99)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 9.4% (FY99)

The IDF's human assets (estimate, source: CIA World Factbook 2000) Military manpower - Category Males Females Availability (age 15-49) 1,499,186 1,462,063

Fit for military service (age 15-49) 1,226,903 1,192,319

Reaching military age (18) annually 50,348 47,996

*******************************************| By comparison to China's forces:

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peoples_Republic_of_China/Military

People's Liberation Army (PLA), which includes the Ground Forces, Navy (includes Marines and Naval Aviation), Air Force, Second Artillery Corps (the strategic missile force), People's Armed Police (internal security troops, nominally subordinate to Ministry of Public Security, but included by the Chinese as part of the "armed forces" and considered to be an adjunct to the PLA in wartime)

Military manpower

Military age: 18 years of age

Availability:
males age 15-49: 363,050,980 (2000 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 199,178,361 (2000 est.)

Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
males: 10,839,039 (2000 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure: $12.608 billion (FY99); note - The actual amount of PRC military spending remains highly controversial. First of all, the military may get resources which are not listed in the official budget. Second, it is difficult to get agreement on the conversion factor used to convert military expenditures to dollars.

Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 1.2% (FY99)

***************************************** Given that the PLA is 100 X larger than the IDF, I'd say that yes the Chinese could run like a Mongol Horde over Jerusalem.

95 posted on 09/21/2002 6:03:53 PM PDT by bonesmccoy
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