Word: pentagonals
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Having seen its prized F-22 fighter struck from the Pentagon's budget by Defense Secretary Robert Gates - who also fired the service's top two leaders last year - the U.S. Air Forces isn't in a laughing mood these days. So, when they recently became the butt of a joke by Army General David Petraeus, now overseeing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, some of the service's macho members felt wounded...
...hidden tug-of-war over these airplanes revealed just how perk-conscious lawmakers can be. In March, the nonprofit group Judicial Watch obtained e-mails from the Pentagon (under the Freedom of Information Act) written by aides to Pelosi seeking military airplanes. "It is my understanding there are no G-5s available for the House during the Memorial Day recess," one May 2007 message said. "This is totally unacceptable." The Pentagon explained the planes were already booked by "White House military office taskings, the VP, Cabinet officers and multiple other executive users." (See pictures of military aircraft...
Mounting demand for congressional travel may help explain why the House initially ordered the Pentagon to buy two more $65 million G-5s - Gulfstream V jets, known in the Air Force as C-37s - as part of the $636 billion defense budget, along with an additional pair of $70 million C-40s, the military version of the Boeing 737. "We've always frowned upon earmarks and additives that are above and beyond what we ask for," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell stated when asked about the additional planes last week...
...withdraw American combat forces from Iraq by Aug. 31, 2010. The bulk of the current 138,000 U.S. troops are expected to remain until Iraq's national elections, scheduled for late this year. Maintaining security for the balloting is considered a top priority by Odierno and other high-ranking Pentagon officials...
Gates talked with Kurdish President Massoud Barzani and other leaders on their home ground in the Kurds' oil-rich, self-ruled area. "We urged them to take advantage of our remaining time in Iraq to settle some of these disputed issues," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters. (Read "With U.S. Pullout, Iraq Takes Ownership...