Just how big a military is threat is Iran? Recent columns by Juan Cole raise this pertinent question as usual parties beat the war drums. With a military budget estimated around 7.4 billion dollars, the Iranian military is dwarfed by Israeli military expenditures of over 13-19 billion dollars. The American military budget is over 500 billion dollars.

Even the military budget of China which was projected as the next great military threat in the 1990s by the Cox report has a budget nine times smaller than the United States (at the official exchange rate). The current United States military budget is larger than the next 13 countries combined. With this in time it is time to give some perspective on the nature of the military threat the United States faces.