Who's afraid of Iran?

Juan Cole writes today about the threat (or lack thereof) that Iran poses to the US:

"Polling shows that the percentage of Americans who view Iran as the number one threat to the United States has risen to 27 percent now. I think it was only 20 percent in December 2006. First of all, how in the world can a developing country with about a fourth of the population of the US, about a $2000 per capita income (in real terms, not local purchasing power), with no intercontinental ballistic missiles, with no weapons of mass destruction (and no proof positive it is trying to get them), with a small army and a small military budget-- how is such a country a "threat" to the United States of America? Iranian leaders don't like the US, and they talk dirty about the US, and they do attempt to thwart US interests. The same is true of Venezuela under Chavez. But Tehran is a minor player on the world stage, and trying to build it up to replace the Soviet Union is just the worst sort of fear-mongering, and it is being done on behalf of the US military industrial complex, which wants to do to Iran what it did to Iraq. It is propaganda, and significant numbers of Americans (a 7 percent increase would be like 21 million people!) are buying it."

The only thing that I would add is that the typical response of those that would have Iran as the number one threat is that Iran could also project force through asymmetrical means (i.e.: terror attacks). The original critique holds though as there could be no doubt that the response by the US to an Iranian terror attack on US soil would be overwhelming.

This is the part where Iranophobes will mention Ahmadinejad's eschatological outlook. Aside from pointing out that a fair number of Christians think the same way if you replace "12th Imam" with "Jesus Christ" in the rambling speeches, it is worth remembering though that Ahmadinejad does not hold authority over the armed forces and really does have a limited amount of power under Iran's constitution.