OSTENSIBLY, the growing threat of international terrorism is responsible for the Bush administration's proposed 2007 military budget, of $439 billion: a 7-percent increase from last year's record tally. Higher spending, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has indicated, would ensure U.S. success "in the long war against terrorist extremism." But only a small share of the increase would cover specialized anti-terror and counter-insurgency systems. The biggest and costliest items--such as nuclear-powered submarines and long-range bombers--are intended for use against an entirely different enemy: the People's Republic of China. Although official U.S. ties with Beijing have remained overtly friendly, Pentagon officials apparently hold a much darker view of the future. The U.S. Defense Department isn't exactly forthcoming about its perception of the China threat. Rather, it speaks of unnamed future challengers that might someday contest American military dominance. The United States "must hedge against the possibility that a major power could choose a hostile path in the future," says the Pentagon's four-year-strategy review. It's to deter--and, if necessary, defeat--such challengers that the Defense Department wants to bankroll pricey new military systems. http://www.fpif.org/fpifoped/3206 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html