The American Pundit

When downplaying the significant threat posed to American interests by the Iranian regime, Barack Obama resorted to comparing the military budgets of the two nations. Here’s the transcript, courtesy of Hot Air.

“Iran, Cuba, Venezuela — these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don’t pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us. … You know, Iran, they spend 1/100th of what we spend on the military. I mean, if Iran ever tried to pose a serious threat to us, they would — they wouldn’t stand a chance.”

I pointed out the sheer stupidity of his logic yesterday. You can’t only look at the size of Iran’s budget, as a major part of its threat comes not from conventional military, but rather via its extensive terrorist network. Furthermore, how large of a budget did Al Qaeda need to kill almost 3,000 innocent people on 9/11? Ed Morrissey actually has the answer:

I did a little research and discovered that AQ spent less than 0.5% of Iran’s declared defense budget in the years when they successfully attacked American assets, including in 2001 — and at least a third of that money went to the Taliban…

Osama spent $30 million in 2001 and killed 3,000 Americans in an asymmetrical conflict we refused to recognize until the towers fell.

Iran has a (declared) $6 billion budget. Iran would be incapable of an invasion, yes, but how many 9/11s can it fund? That’s before even considering that it’s pursuing nuclear weapons, which can kill countless Americans without putting a foot on American soil.