In what must be among the wildest speculations of the Obama Administration, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates sought to defend a massive US missile defense system in Europe by guessing that Iran might fire “scores or even hundreds of missiles” at Europe.
The number given is based on estimates of the size of Iran’s long range missile arsenal, and the fact that the best of Iran’s missiles has a maximum range which would allow them, if fired from Iran’s western border, to reach the southeastern tip of Europe.
This would hypothetically allow Iran to really put a hurting on a nation like Croatia or Macedonia, though why on earth this is even a topic of discussion is unclear, as Iran has no conceivable reason for doing so.
Still, this sort of idle speculation is more than enough for the administration to sell the enormously expensive missile defense and its dubious utility, even in the midst of a budget crisis.
Absent from all of this, of course, is that the US hasn’t put its missile defense in southeastern Europe, but well outside of Iran’s missile range, along the Russian border.
Which of course is the other reason for wild speculation about the Iranian “threat.” Russia isn’t too keen on the US putting so many missiles along their frontier, and the Obama Administration is struggling to convince people, beyond all reason, that the missiles have something to do with Iran, not Russia.
This is what comes of having a totally passive mainstream press. The administration can say the absolute craziest off the wall things and know that they won't be challenged on them.
Well done. it's weird that Russia seems so eager to mollify Obama when Obama keeps surrounding Russia with forces. On the other hand, Russia likes selling oil and gas to europe, so maybe that explains everything. They may be backing sanctions because those promise to make Europe even more dependent on Russia, and if the Straits were closed, the value of Russian oil would go through the roof.
pretty sure the US sanctions don't include Oil. Exxon and BP wouldn't like that. And we know that no US Gov will do anything that Exxon and BP don't like.
Gates is nuts or crazy at best. I'm more afraid of what israel will do to Europe.
Wow! Sure didn't take long for one of the monomaniacs to make Israel the focus. The Iranian mullahs are lucky they've got so many paranoids out there eager to spew propaganda on their behalf.
What Europe truly needs to fear is Europe itself. Their ongoing policy of flooding their own continent with fanatical jihadists from the backwaters of the world has been utterly suicidal. Europe itself has introduced a fifth column of epic proportions into its midst. Their culture and society are now on a path to destruction from within, all in the name of multiculturalism.
Europe needn't concern itself with Israel. The Islamic menace will soon set Europe on fire.
Europe is getting far ahead of America because its replaced America as a land of freedom. America used to get the best and the brightest in the world to come here, but now many won't because they are afraid of the racist idiots who think every Arab or every Muslim is a 'jihadist'.
So, now they go to Europe. Which means the enlightenment continues there as America descends into a fundamentalist dark age of hatred and bigotry.
Too bad we are letting nut jobs like this destroy the America of tolerance and decency and freedom that was once a shining light upon the world.
You're in a very small minority of delusional psychotics if you believe that Muslims in Europe are continuing the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was a Western development, utterly at odds with the suffocating, stifling dictates of Koranic literalism and Sharia law. Churchill called Islam the most "retrograde force" in the world. Since his time it has become even more intolerant and backward-looking.
Rampant immigration from Islamic lands is set to extinguish the Enlightenment in Europe, as anyone who has been paying attention can see. Why the Muslim riots in European capitals but not in America? Why so many no-go areas for non-Muslims in Europe, but not in America?
You live in a dream. Europe's Enlightenment is over, and which former America of "tolerance" are you so wistful about? The America of slavery? The America of segregation and quotas? It's America which has moved forward, and Europe which has regressed.
Or the America of detention without trial,or the Amrica where mass mruder of foreingers is acceptable, or the America where torture is acceptable or the racist America that has its panties in a twist 'cos a 'black man' has become president?
I agree that muslim immigration is a very bad thing for Europe. I agree with that.
Hasbara nonsense.
"The killer Islamofascists are coming. Run for you lives!"
HAHAHAHahahaaahahahahahahahaha!
There is so much hyperbole and distortion in your piece FM that it's hard to know where to begin. Europe has immigration problems and a lot of it goes beyond simply allowing Muslims to immigrate. There are tons of Muslims who have come to America without incident. So is it a problem inherent to Islam? With the lack of homegrown jihadis compared to Europe one might conclude that there are other factors at work then mere adherence to Islam. And you would do well to remember that when Christians in Europe were burning books and conducting witch hunts the arabs were inventing Algebra and building libraries. So again, I contend that the problem stems not from Islam, but from other sources. Like political disenfranchisement perhaps?
He really needs to share his new drugs. That's some good @#$@ he's on.
Makes you blind, deaf, and stupid.
I suppose if we ever get to the point where Europeans collude openly with Israel's jihadist enemies in isolating, demonizing, dehumanizing, sanctioning, weakening, threatening, harming, and dismantling Israel…then perhaps elements in Europe will, quite justifiably, have much to fear from Israel.
If an entire continent gangs up on a tiny state, the continent has no moral high ground, and it can't expect to act with impunity.
And let's not forget…
If you wrench millions of innocent people out of their homes and slaughter them, only to start going after their grandchildren a few decades later…Well, at some point maybe you ought to start worrying about karma.
"If you wrench millions of innocent people out of their homes and slaughter them, only to start going after their grandchildren a few decades later…Well, at some point maybe you ought to start worrying about karma."
You're talking about the Palestinians, right?
Fool.
So you believe MILLIONS of Arabs were slaughtered by )ews? Who's the fool?
Do you honestly equate the "Nakba" (which only occurred because multiple Arab armies invaded with the intent to annihilate) with the Shoah?
What a spectacle you make of yourself, JD. You should be a museum exhibit: "The Self-Hating Kap0 )ew." Always ready to lend his enemies a hand against his own! You never object to racist slurs or heinous, murderous sentiments about your own ethnic group. You give them all a free pass. Yet you're the first to target anyone who defends Israel or opposes its enemies. What hypocrisy. What a double standard. What cowardice. What self-defeating, jaw-dropping idiocy. What a trembling leaf you are, so fearful of the bigots you'd rather side with them.
Your eagerness to ingratiate yourself with people who hate you but, for the moment, tolerate you is stomach-churning. You're easily the lowest form of life around here (come to think of it, you do have some pretty stiff competition).
Do you have wet dreams about being a sondercommando?
"No Clue Given to Why on Earth They Would". c'mon Jason. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to see why. The reason Iran might attack Europe? A US/Israel attack on Iran with European backing.
"It could happen!"
Judy Tenuta
With the ever increasing volume of lies told the American people, you would have to expect the quality to go down. To think that they would send their children to foreign lands to do murder and die based on such implausible twaddle is enough to cause a sentinent person to lose all hope. How can one escape this madhouse?
Of course Israel blackmails Europe by bragging that is does indeed have nuclear tipped missiles that can hit every capitol in Europe – no concern about that threat?
The LIES told to the American people are so absurd!
gates is a nincompoop!
Hundreds of missile's? …. Holy Megatons Batman! Would they be capable of launching in 45 minutes as well? Get the bombers on station and set the big board to DefCon 5!
Oh, and by the way, don't pay any attention to our surrounding your countries with missiles, bases, and troops…. Nothing to see here. Move along now.
Israel is antichrist. Christians must disengage from that place.
At this point you have to assume everything said by the American political/military establishment are lies and utter bullshit.
The biggest threat to world peace is Israel and us(US), their lacky. Israel has already stated publicly, they have a couple hundred nukes they could hit Europe with. I would assume that would be if we don’t let them have their way. It’s called the “SAMSON OPTION”
Mr. Gate's statment is the most racist and the lowest any one can go to please the other master
not the American people . this is the lowest insult to the Iranian people to say they are so
irrational that they will pick fihgt with Europ or America they will defend if attacked but to fire
missel to Euroup please Mr Gate what are you smoking these days do you realy think all
US citizen are STUPPIED common give us some credit we are paying for all those killing toys
that you are using in Iraq and Afghan/iranian will copy US &Israel WEAK ENEMY ONLY MAHMOOD
They would never get to Europe, that's what the buffer called Israel is for!
Any thinking American or European knows this for a fact: the real threats to our liberties, property, prosperity and security does not come from the government of Iran; the real threats come from our own governments. The so-called threat from Iran is propaganda designed to divert the attention of the American and European people from the very clear and present dangers posed by their own kleptocratic and power-hungry rulers.
A Gates character-witness might be appropriate: http://www.democracynow.org/2006/11/9/defense_secretary_...
"MELVIN GOODMAN: …Bob Gates, over the period of the 1980s, as a deputy for Intelligence and then as a deputy to CIA director Bill Casey, was politicizing intelligence. …spinning intelligence on all of the major issues of the day, on the Soviet Union, on Central America, on the Middle East, on Southwest Asia."
If so, Gates, attack iran NOW, before it's too late.