Word: pentagonal
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...months to pull 120,000 troops out of Afghanistan. They were simply going next door, and they still lost more than 500 men on the way out. Pulling out 10 combat brigades - roughly 30,000 troops, along with their gear and support personnel - would take at least 10 months, Pentagon officials say. And that's only part of the picture. There are civilians who would probably want to head for the exit when GIs started packing. They include some 50,000 U.S. contractors and tens of thousands of Iraqis who might need protection if we left the country...
...helicopters, armored personnel carriers, trucks and humvees - are now in Iraq. They are spread across 15 bases, 38 supply depots, 18 fuel-supply centers and 10 ammo dumps. These items have to be taken back home or destroyed, lest they fall into the hands of one faction or another. Pentagon officials will try to bring back as much of the downtime gear as possible - dining halls, office buildings, vending machines, furniture, mobile latrines, computers, paper clips and acres of living quarters. William (Gus) Pagonis, the Army logistics chief who directed the flood of supplies to Saudi Arabia...
...plan being devised by General Petraeus' staff in Iraq, which envisions a slow draw-down, paced by the Army's troop-rotation schedule; force levels would begin to ebb in March 2008 and reach pre-surge levels six months later. And there is more radical planning in the Pentagon, which would halve the current troop levels in a year. The growing friction between Petraeus and the Pentagon brass, with the generals desperate to save their Army before it breaks, will be a story to watch in the next few months...
...catalysts for the dispute are several amendments to the Pentagon's $649 billion appropriations bill, which is pending before the Senate this week and next. The White House has been engaged in a full court press to prevent other Republican senators from voting for any one of these amendments and giving Democrats the 60 votes they need to overcome a filibuster and attach a timeline for withdrawal to the legislation...
...help us understand them. If we want to defeat our enemies, we must understand them. Your correspondent obviously puts himself in great danger when he meets people like Abdallah, and I would like him to know that I appreciate it. I hope folks in Washington and generals in the Pentagon are reading stories like this and learning valuable lessons about our enemies. Rupert Peters, SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA...