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.
Exactly, were it not for his war position, he’d be a top tier candidate, and the majority of FReepers would support him. His war position hurts him more than anything.
On Iran at least, he is right though. Does no one remember Osirak or Syria about 4 months ago? That scared the bejeezus out of every Arab country. They think we’ll get tired of fighting, but they KNOW Israel won’t hesitate to use the bomb to protect itself. Israel is far scarier to Arab countries than we are. The best they can hope to do are half assed terrorist attacks on cafes. If they go any further, Israel will turn their country into one big parking lot.
Good then it should be really easy to link to a transcript or video clip.
ROFLMAO!
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