Posted on 12/30/2007 12:07:19 PM PST by jdm
The more Ron Paul talks, the more he demonstrates his unfitness for the office he seeks — and maybe for the office he holds. Yesterday on Meet the Press, Paul came up with a number of stunners, but his take on Iran may have been the most clueless of all:
MR. RUSSERT: So if Iran invaded Israel, what do we do?
REP. PAUL: Well, they’re not going to. That is like saying “Iran is about to invade Mars.” I mean, they have nothing. They don’t have an army or navy or air force. And Israelis have 300 nuclear weapons. Nobody would touch them. But, no, if, if it were in our national security interests and Congress says, “You know, this is very, very important, we have to declare war.” But presidents don’t have the authority to go to war.
Paul shows himself to be completely clueless in this passage. Iran does have an army; in fact, their Revolutionary Guard comprises not just a military but also a financial and intelligence apparatus that keeps the mullahcracy safely in power. The Artesh (regular forces) consists of a navy, an air force, and ground forces, all of which are duplicated in the Revolutionary Guard. Instead of having no military, Iran effectively has two of each branch.
The military expenditures in Iran mirror that of the US. Teheran uses 2.5% of its GDP on military spending, while the US hovers around 4% — and our forces reach all around the world. Iran has a substantial military, one that is well-funded and one that serves a dual purpose of threatening its neighbors and cowing dissent at home. It also funds a serious ballistic missile threat which affects the balance of power in the region. The new Shahab-3 can reach to Europe and certainly represents an existential threat to Israel.
But that isn’t the extent of the Iranian threat. Iran also funds terrorist movements, especially Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad in Syria and Lebanon. Those funds don’t get counted in the percentage of GDP, but they sustain an important column in the aggressive Iranian strategy for hegemony in the region. Any consideration of the threat Iran represents to the world has to include this — which once again Paul inexplicably ignores.
More than anything else Paul has said or done in this cycle, this statement should disqualify him for any consideration, serious or not, for the Presidency. His constituents in Texas ought to rethink his qualifications for Congress, too.
I disagree. between the regular military, the IRGC, and the Basiji, Iran has a fairly large amount og men under arms. And they recently announced how they are training the Basiji into more effective paramilitary units, and increasing the overall size of the Basiji Forces ,as they are being moved into the control of the IRGC, and command has been given over to a
ranking IRGC general.
Both the question and answer were equally stupid.
Iran can’t “Invade” Israel in the first place. Not because it has no army, which it obviously does, but simple geography.
Iran has a navy and Israel has a coast. Not saying it’s likely, but not impossible.
The problem is, there are enough others of them, if we don’t watch out, we may have to actually take one of them seriously one of these days.
It would be a metaphysical impossibility for the Iranian Navy to get to the coast of Israel. They don’t have the range to go around Africa, and not like they wouldn’t be noticed. And they’d get annihilated trying to come through the Suez Canal if not long before it. It’s a pretty sad navy of small craft.
Like I said, it was a silly question to begin with. Russert probably meant “Attack” rather than “invade.”
“It’s out of context!”
“He didn’t mean it! What he meant was (insert benign interpretation here).”
/paulbot
Paul is becoming our own Baghdad Bob.
From Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_of_Iran
The Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Persian:
These forces total about 545,000 active personnel.[2] Both fall under the commands of the Ministry’s of Defense & Armed Forces Logistics.[3]
The Islamic Republic of Iran Army consists of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, Islamic Republic of Iran Navy, Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force. The regular armed forces have an estimated 420,000 personnel: the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, 350,000 personnel; the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy, 18,000 personnel; and the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force, 52,000 airmen.[4]
The Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution, or Revolutionary Guards, has an estimated 125,000 personnel in five branches: Its own Navy, Air Force, and Ground Forces; the Quds Force (Special Forces), and the Basij (militia).[5]
The Basij is a paramilitary volunteer force controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards; it includes about 90,000 full-time, active-duty uniformed Basij members, up to 300,000 reservists, and a further 11 million men and women who could be mobilized.[6]
Iran’s Armed Forces capabilities are kept largely secret. In recent years, official announcements have highlighted the development of weapons such as the Fajr-3 (MIRV), Hoot, Kowsar, Fateh-110, Shahab-3 missile systems and a variety of unmanned aerial vehicles, at least one of which Israel claims has been used to spy on Israel. [7] In 2006, Iran spied on the American aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan for 25 minutes without being detected before returning safely to its base.[8][9][10] Some western nations have alleged that Iran is developing nuclear weapons. [11] The United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency, in its February 2006 report on Iran’s nuclear program, said it had no evidence of this. Recently, the United States of America released an intelligence report that the Islamic Republic of Iran has no running nucear program.[12] [13]
Iran’s military was called the Middle East’s most powerful by General John Abizaid chief of United States Central Command (U.S. forces’ commander in the region). Under pressure, Abizaid later modified his comments and said he did not count Israel Defense Forces, because it does not fall in his area of operations.
Don’t see why not, not that i’d expect them to mount a conventional land battle, but they *are* thick as thieves with Syria in their hat3e for Israel. and HizbAllh had no trouble getting to Israels borders. It wouldn’t be something all that novel to see Israel under siege...it’s not like it’s never happened before. Syria and Iran have several MOIs and mutual defense pacts they’ve signed in the last odd decade.
This goes without even mentioning that Saudi Arabia has made large purchases of M1A2s, and then there’s Egypt...Home country of Ayman al Zawahiri, and the Islamic Brotherhood...
No, I don’t think it so out of the realm of possibility.
But I tend to think that the plan they keep stating, is the one they plan to carry out: A major WMD attack in one or more of Israels larger population centers for the largesr possible death tolls they can achieve. And then let collapse and attrition do most of their work for them.
THAT is what he SAID:
How anyone can 'stretch' that into your analysis
"He clearly meant that they don't have a credible military force, no matter how much they spend. The headline is a real stretch
is a gigantic 'stretch' "they have NOTHING" doesn't translate to "credible"
Iran has one of the LARGEST armies in the world.
Iran can’t “Invade” Israel in the first place. Not because it has no army, which it obviously does, but simple geography.That's right. No country ever invaded another country that wasn't right on its border.
(Making a Jerry Seinfeld face right now, like when he said to George: "Naah, no one's ever been shot in the city." )
ping
ping
Bugs comes to mind.
The Israelis had nukes in 1973, but that didn't stop a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria from launching an all-out invasion in The Yom Kippur War.
Ron Paul doesn't know his ass from his elbow. ...an embarrassment, even for a congresscritter.
I’m enjoying the Packers victory. I’m not responding to this tripe.
I’m leaning more towards ‘Mousey’, brother and POTUS ticket sharer, ‘Marvin’ (Kucinich)
Yes YEs YES all hail Dennis Kookspinach for president.
That’s “Mr Marvin the Martian”, to you and me! %o)
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