The Iran Boogie Man

Today's mini-scandal is that Iran has been able to acquire some spare parts for its military aircraft through Pentagon surplus sales. Supposedly, the Defense Department is aiding and abetting the Iranian "threat" through its shoddy sales and accounting practices.

But the surplus sales demonstrate how little Iranian threat there actually is.

In fact, Iran is scrounging spare parts for its 1970's vintage F-14 Tomcat fighters. These were the fighters that the Shah had purchased before he was overthrown. The Iranians are "suspected" of purchasing Russian-made planes of more recent vintage, but F-14's and F-4's are still the backbone of the Iranian Air Force. Currently, Iran is supposed to have 78 F-14's, but only 10 are "suspected to be functional" in the portentous words used by the MSNBC article. Having been built in the 1950's, Iran's F-4's are even older and more out of date than the F-14's. In fact, the F-4's were well out of date before George Bush started training as a pilot in the reserves.

Not exactly intimidating stuff.

Although Iran does have missiles, it does not have enough of a military to defend itself against American attacks, let alone threaten anyone.