Word: pentagon
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There have been so many heads lopped off at the Pentagon since Gates took over in 2006 it's almost as if he has launched a second French Revolution. First to go in early 2007 were a handful of senior Army brass following the revelations of poor conditions for wounded troops at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the Army's flagship hospital. Then, in 2008, he canned the Air Force's top two leaders - one civilian and one military - over their sloppy handling of nuclear missiles and other atomic gear. (See a TIME photo-essay on Robert Gates' public...
...aimed by Lockheed Martin (the nation's biggest defense contractor). It took the three companies 14 years (eight more than expected) and $4 billion ($3 billion more than anticipated) to finally shoot down the fake enemy missile over the Pacific. The firms pocketed about $75 billion from the Pentagon last year...
...more symbolic than anything else - it would signal a European acceptance of the country's status as an equal player on the world stage. The weapons ban has certainly not prevented China from becoming a military power - its annual defense budget officially stands at $70 billion, although the Pentagon believes the real figure to be twice as high. Rather, Beijing sees the embargo as outdated and insulting, considering the other nations currently subject to an E.U. arms ban are all pariah states - Congo, North Korea, Iran, Burma, Somalia, Sudan and Zimbabwe. (A similar E.U. embargo against Uzbekistan was lifted...
...Taliban forces have been burying hundreds of improvised explosive devices around the town in recent weeks. "It's giving time and space to those who want to fight to dig in," says Ali Jalali, who served as Afghanistan's first post-Taliban Interior Minister and now works with the Pentagon's National Defense University in Washington. "It could be very bloody, and that could affect public opinion in Europe...
...buried along all major approaches to the town. Unlike earlier battles over towns and villages further east, where many Taliban are from Pakistan, the enemy in Marja is largely local, which will further complicate the fight. "It's harder to separate the enemy from the people," a Pentagon planner says, "when they are the people." (See pictures of the battle against the Taliban...