The administration is beating the WAR DRUMS to go to war with Iran.
Many here have expressed concerns about such a move by the administration. It is a very unwise move at this point to attack Iran.
- They have a decent military (1/2 million strong, plus every able body must server 2 years meaning they have about 15 million TRAINED and ABLE)
- They have ballistic capabilities, probably targeting U.S. ships and bases in the region
- They have allies in Syria (committed in a treaty to defend each other) and probably Russia and China to boot
- We would definitely take heavy casualties (10's of thousands likely)
Don't be fooled about issues of National Security. It really is about oil. And don't think that we are going to get Iran's oil. That isn't why we would attack them. It's to cause the price of oil to skyrocket. Who's going to benefit from that? The oil industry, especially those companies who get their oil from non-middle eastern sources.
A long time ago, I posted a chart about this with regard to the war in Iraq. That chart has become my sig graphic. While almost ALL OTHER Market Indices have stagnated or even fallen, their is ONE GROUP OF INDUSTRIES who have benefited greatly: DEFENSE CONTRACTORS and the OIL INDUSTRIES.
Well, I've updated it and here it is current to Jan 2006:
You can look up other industry averages here:
http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/charts/chartdl.asp?Symbol=%24indu%2Coilgasref%2Cindoilgas%2Caeroservic&ShowChtBt=Refresh+Chart&DateRangeForm=1&PT=7&CP=1&C5=6&C6=2000&C7=1&C8=2006&C9=2&ComparisonsForm=1&CE=0&CompSyms=&DisplayForm=1&D5=0&D7=&D6=&D3=0And I don't think I need to go into details about who in the administration has heavy investments in defense and oil industries.