Word: pentagonal
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...been a magnificent season for gaffes. Consider just the past couple of weeks, Barbara Boxer ostensibly dissed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for not having an " immediate family." A hapless Pentagon official named Charles Stimson called on American corporations to fire any law firm that represented terror suspects. An actor on Grey's Anatomy used the word "faggot" at the Golden Globe awards in the course of denying that he had used this word about another member of the cast last October. French president Jacques Chirac said that it wouldn't be so bad if Iran got a nuclear bomb...
...teacher who in 1966 drew worldwide attention as a humanist and conscientious objector to one war: Vietnam; of emphysema; in Seattle. After the Air Force refused his request to resign his commission based on his belief that the war was illegal and immoral, he filed a suit against the Pentagon that the Supreme Court declined to hear. Around the same time, he was court-martialed for refusing to train a pilot destined for Vietnam, sentenced to a year in jail and dishonorably discharged...
...Defense Department has no comment on the Brookings report, or on what kind of contingency planning it has under way in the event of catastrophic failure and an all-out civil war. Bush's new strategy - sending 21,500 more troops to Iraq - "is designed for victory," says a Pentagon official. "And that is what we're moving out on." But Pollock hopes the generals are thinking as much about Plan B, "because as much as we hope Plan A works, at this late date...
...second time in his seven weeks as Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates has decided to shift a top-level commander from one post to another rather than promote a younger man. Pentagon sources say Gates will nominate Admiral Timothy Keating to be the new head of Pacific Command. Keating, a four-star admiral who ran the Navy's operations during the start of the Iraq war, is currently the top-ranking officer at Northern Command, which is responsible for defending the United States and was the primary military command that responded to Hurricane Katrina. He replaces Admiral William Fallon...
...four-star officer to replace another is not unusual, and Pacific Command has always been run by a Navy admiral. But by simply reshuffling top-ranking officers around the nine so-called "combatant" commands rather than bringing in up-and-coming officers is starting to raise eyebrows inside the Pentagon. Both Fallon and Keating were appointed by Gates' predecessor Donald Rumsfeld-a Defense Secretary known for strong-arming even the most senior commanders-and while continuity is useful in military circles, keeping the same leadership has a ripple effect: it keeps lower-ranking officers from moving up and, some critics...