Word: pentagonals
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...from the U.S. (The A.U. peacekeepers have cost $160 million so far.) In 2007, the U.S. sent special-operations teams in with the Ethiopians and - says Abdirashid Mohamed Hiddig, a Somali Member of Parliament who assisted the Americans - captured 10 to 20 foreign fighters. Since then, according to Pentagon spokesmen, the U.S. has carried out at least six aerial attacks inside Somalia, killing al-Shabab leader Aden Hashi Farah Ayro, who was hit by a missile in May 2008, and Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, the mastermind of the 2002 attack in Kenya, who was killed by U.S. helicopter gunships last...
...adapt to an expeditionary role, capable of dispatching troops thousands of miles from home, "out of area," as NATO officials put it. The reason is simple: If NATO can't do out of area, it's out of business. "NATO, I think, still deserves to continue," Alexander Vershbow, the Pentagon's top international thinker, said on Feb. 26. "If NATO ceased to exist, we'd have to reinvent it very quickly...
...look for any major changes that might restore Pentagon spending to its more modest Cold War levels. Defense Secretary Robert Gates took a good whack at unneeded weapons systems in last year's budget, killing the F-22 fighter and other programs of dubious merit. Unfortunately, his minions seem to believe that this one-time slice is sufficient. Ashton Carter, the Pentagon's top weapons buyer, said Feb. 17 that he believes last year's cuts mean that additional program cancellations "won't be necessary...
...trust them, and we can't afford it. They haven't proven to me that they can do anything efficient," he said. Murphey's recent Tea Party meeting consisted of just five guys in a bar, but that's not so bad for Arlington, home of the Pentagon. Protesting Big Government in Arlington is like disdaining microchips in San Jose. (See the screwups of Campaign...
...Gates really demonstrated his seriousness earlier this month when he cashiered a Marine two-star general who had been running the Pentagon's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, the most expensive weapons system in history, for failing to meet cost and performance goals. Senior officers fumble multibillion programs fairly often, but rarely are they publicly rebuked - never mind fired - for such snafus. "Fundamentally reforming acquisitions, above all, calls on us to foster a culture and practice of accountability - accountability with regard to industry and within the walls of this building as well," Gates said at the Pentagon. (See pictures...