I just penned a letter to the editor and collected a bit of data in the process. This might be useful for others who want to write an LTE, or who discuss such matters with conservatives. Data on military spending is from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute at www.sipri.org. On whether Iran is a nuclear threat, I highly recommend Juan Cole's recent piece at www.truthdig.org (he has a link posted at his blog also, www.juancole.com).
The Bush administration is now preparing public opinion for possible air strikes against Iran. Bush administration officials are using the same exaggerations and lies that they used to sell the disastrous invasion of Iraq to the American public.
Keep these facts in mind. Iran has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and allows all required inspection visits. The NNPT inspections have been effective - no nation who has submitted to them has developed nuclear weapons (Israel refused to sign the NNPT and has an extensive nuclear arsenal). According to the National Intelligence Estimate prepared for President Bush in 2005, if Iran undertakes an active development program, it will require perhaps ten years to develop a nuclear weapon.
In 2004 US military spending was 47 percent of the world total. The US spent more on its military that year ( 455.3 billion dollars) than the next 32 countries combined. Countries ranking second, third, and fourth in military spending (Britain, France, and Japan) are all US allies. China, in fifth place, spent the equivalent of $35.4 billion on its military - less than one-tenth of US spending. Israel, in twelfth place, spent $10.7 billion. Iran spent just over $5 billion on its military (see Stockholm International Peace Research Institute).