Run! The 12th Imam Has Spoken!

Oh noes! Iran test-fired some missiles, which clearly means that the Lexington, Cincinnati and greater Columbus areas had better put up that invisible shield they've been prepping (don't think I don't know about the Ohio-Kentucky invisible shield compact) because the bombs will be raining down any minute. Sen. Lieberman was right! We truly are next!

There's only one piece of contradictory information here, and that's this chart:

UNITED STATES IRAN
Population 303,824,646 65,875,223
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) $13.8 trillion $0.75 trillion
Defense spending fiscal year 2009 $711 billion $7.2 billion
Total troops 2,580,875 895,000
Main battle tanks 8,023 1,613
Reconnaissance vehicles 348 35
Armored infantry fighting vehicles 6,719 610
Armored personnel carriers 21,242 640
Artillery units 8,041 8,196
Helicopters 5,425 311
Submarines 71 6
Principal surface combatants 106 5
Patrol and coastal combatants 157 320
Mine warfare ships 9 5
Amphibious ships 490 21
Fighter aircraft 3,538 286
Long-range bomber aircraft 170 None
Transport aircraft 883 136
Electronic warfare/intelligence aircraft 159 3
Reconnaissance aircraft 134 6
Maritime patrol aircraft 197 8
Anti-submarine warfare aircraft 58 None
Airborne early warning aircraft 53 None
Nuclear warheads ~5,400 None

Iran is not a military threat to the United States. Iran's testing of weapons is a little something called self-defense, with a dollop of domestic politics thrown in besides, as inflammatory rhetoric from this country (also known as friendly joshing around) ends up inflaming tensions - what a concept! It's like that's what it's designed to do!

A nuclear program from Iran would be a concern if they were actually building one. But it's unlikely they are. Unless and until we have a legitimate negotiating strategy instead of asking Iran to give up its civilian energy program before going to the bargaining table - which is the entire point of the negotiation - they will continue to reject proposals and increase the danger. There are offers out there which Iran would seriously consider - but under threat of bombing instead of negotiations in good faith, they have little incentive to do so.

Those who understand our military know that we must not attack Iran. The consequences would be catastrophic for the region, which would break into further chaos and instability, and for the US military, which is so overstretched that it cannot even send troops to Afghanistan without some kind of drawdown in Iraq. In this sense, the escalation of forces has made us less safe and unable to cope with unexpected threats.

The death rate for American troops in Afghanistan last month was four times that of Iraq. The last two months have been the deadliest of the war for U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan since 2001.

And today, Afghanistan sustained the deadliest single terrorist attack since 9/11 when suspected Taliban militants blew up the Indian embassy in Kabul.

This is directly attributable to negligent policies set forth by the Bush administration--an administration dangerously obsessed with Iraq at the expense of the Real Global War on Terror. When many were urging the U.S. to focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan in early 2007, the Bush administration--with the support of Senator John McCain--launched the "surge" of troops into Baghdad.

Iran isn't a threat to world domination but they could cause us great harm - if we engage in yet another stupid preventive war which is unnecessary and destabilizing.