Word: pentagonal
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With Kim Jong Il suddenly remaking himself into a friend of the West and with leaders from Libya to Iran whispering hints of moderation, what's left to fear? Plenty, according to Washington think tanks and Pentagon planners who specialize in looking for the next threat. Among the biggest worries are terrorism, Iraq, the continuing threat from Russian and Chinese nuclear arsenals, and ongoing conflicts with small but hard-to-hit "sub-state" groups such as the narcotics traffickers currently working the U.S.-Mexican border...
...about the readiness of Iraqi troops to take over the primary combat role in that country, a new progress report on the Iraqi Police Service, expected to be released this week, raises troubling concerns, including the likelihood that the police have been infiltrated by terrorists. The report, by the Pentagon and State Department inspectors general, concludes that the training has been beset with problems amid "high-level violence and a vibrant insurgency." Despite some improvements, the report says, "too many recruits are marginally literate; some show up for training with criminal records or physical handicaps; and some recruits allegedly...
...Iraqi Interior Ministry has begun using a biometric database to track "ghost employees" who are on the rolls but don't show up for work. A senior U.S. military officer in Iraq, however, tells TIME that he disagrees strongly with one opinion included in the report--that the Pentagon was serving up unprepared Iraqi police as "cannon fodder." --By Timothy J. Burger and Douglas Waller
...much does China spend on defense? The only consensus among foreign observers is that China spends more than it says it does. The official budget for 2005 is about $29.9 billion, a 13% increase from the previous year. (The Pentagon's budget request is $401.7 billion for this year, up 7% from 2004.) The U.S. report says Beijing's actual defense spending could be two or three times higher than the official number. If China spent $90 billion, the high side of Pentagon estimates, it would be the third biggest military spender in the world after the U.S. and Russia...
...Taiwan the only potential trouble spot? Perhaps not. The Pentagon argues that China is developing military capabilities that extend farther. It says the estimated 650 to 730 Chinese short-range ballistic missiles placed along the Taiwan Strait could be deployed to other positions. And improvements in the Chinese air force's ability to refuel airborne fighters and its navy's acquisition of destroyers and submarines could help make China a threat farther afield. Still, says Bonnie Glaser, a China expert at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies: "The threat to the region is [currently a matter...