According to a Gallup Poll conducted early this month, Americans believe that North Korea, Iran, and Iraq—the “axis of evil” countries from President Bush’s January 2002 State of the Union address—are the greatest enemies of the United States today. Iraq was seen as the biggest threat prior to 2002, but now 26 percent of Americans feel Iran is. Iraq is considered the second greatest threat at 21 percent, and North Korea is third at 18 percent. This is the second year Iran trumps Iraq and North Korea as Enemy #1 in American opinion.
The Air Force wants to pump more than $12 billion over the next five years into its new affordable long-range missiles program and recently asked industry to push the flights of some of those munitions beyond 1,200 miles.