Word: pentagonal
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...increasingly fair to ask: Does anyone else? For nearly three years as Defense Secretary, Rumsfeld has employed everything from smiling charm to podium-pounding bluntness in his battles with Congress, the Pentagon bureaucracy and his colleagues in the Bush Administration over who controls foreign policy. But his recent pronouncements, both public and private, have grown into a regular political distraction for a President who is already on the defensive for his handling of the Iraq war and its aftermath--both of which were designed largely by Rumsfeld himself...
...strewing political wreckage on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. First, he wrote a frank memo about the war on terrorism that was at odds with much of the Administration's public spin for the past several months. Then he alienated the one person, apart from Bush, on whom the Pentagon most relies for sustenance--Virginia Senator John Warner, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. A former Navy Secretary, Warner went to the Senate floor to complain that Rumsfeld had in effect ignored his request for an investigation into Lieut. General William "Jerry" Boykin, a top Army officer...
Rumsfeld insisted that he had not leaked the memo himself. But it is widely believed inside the Pentagon that he was content to see it disclosed; the debate is much more about why. One officer explained that Rumsfeld wanted to make it clear that he didn't really believe his own rose-colored rhetoric. Another said he was reasserting his authority over Iraq policy. But perhaps the savviest explanation is also the simplest. The U.S. is spending close to $500 billion a year on defense, at home and abroad, yet Americans feel only slightly safer. Some Bush hard-liners share...
...Force One, "He didn't reflect my opinion." Rumsfeld would go no further, pleading that the sound on the videotapes of Boykin's incendiary remarks was too scratchy to be understood. In his dustup with Warner, Rumsfeld went so far as to say it was Boykin who requested a Pentagon probe--perhaps so evangelicals wouldn't blame the Bush team for going after one of their own. Still, Boykin's days are numbered. "His job effectiveness is over," said retired Army General Barry McCaffrey...
...matter who ends up in the White House in January, U.S. troops are staying in Iraq indefinitely--possibly in even greater numbers. Pentagon officials say U.S. troop strength there, now at 136,000, could rise by as many as 15,000 during the first four months of 2005, as troops arriving to replace those who have been there for a tour of duty overlap. Bush has refused to set a timetable for a reduction in forces, and insists that "we will stay the course" until Iraq is stabilized. Kerry is trying to convince the public that he can turn things...