All the talk lately has once again been Iran. Yesterday Iran test fired some new missiles and Michele Bachmann instantly took to the teevee to show she has some big balls!
“What we need to do is take a very aggressive posture toward letting Iran know that we mean business, that we don’t want them to seek a nuclear weapon,” Bachmann said on CBS’ “The Early Show,” adding that her administration “will do whatever it takes” to send a “strong signal that the United States is on high alert.”
She said that includes deploying Patriot missiles, ballistic missiles and other weapon systems in the U.S. and the Middle East. (watch at left)
I wonder how much that would cost our already cash strapped nation?
But it turns out that there isn’t a real threat from Iran’s show yesterday:
It turned out the missiles weren’t that long range after all.
The Qhader missile, introduced in September, has a range of just 124 miles. The U.S. Navy’s fifth fleet in Bahrain is 150 miles from Iran. Israel is four times farther.
“We’ve seen that they’ve photoshopped, for example, photographs of missile tests before to make it look more impressive than it actually is, so I would take all this with a grain of salt. I think this is mainly posturing. It’s gamesmanship. And it’s again meant to send a message that the Iranians aren’t simply going to sit back while their oil is sanctioned,” said Michael Singh, Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
I admit that a nuclear Iran is a scary notion, but what is even scarier is if we have someone like Bachmann in reach of the button given her history of over-reacting. I am really glad we have a President in the White House who doesn’t freak out at every little thing and actually takes time to think it through.
Perhaps that’s why the GOP as a whole has been avoiding the national security issue. They know that when that issue comes up, it is President Obama who will hands down. Maybe this campaign season we can see the Democrats actually put the GOP on the ropes over who the better keeper of the guard really is.