Related Content: Leon Panetta
Video of Urinating Marines Could Be a Defining Image of AfghanistanOn The Radar The Pentagon opened a formal probe into a video showing Marines in Afghanistan urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters, but the move may not be enough to prevent the footage from becoming one of the defining images of the long and deeply unpopular Afghan War. The probe formally unveiled by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Thursday came less than a day after the video began widely circulating over the Internet. |
Obama's Modest Proposal on DefenseOn The Radar As he unveiled his administration's new blueprint for U.S. defense strategy last week, President Obama sought to vaccinate himself against charges that he was gutting the nation's military. Even after the strategy is fully implemented, he said, "the defense budget will still be larger than it was at the end of the Bush administration." |
Shifts at Pentagon Reflect Dual Realities of Different Threats, Tighter BudgetsOn The Radar The Obama administration's high-profile rollout of its new military blueprint for the years ahead was designed to do two very different things: mark a decisive shift away from manpower-heavy counterinsurgencies like Afghanistan and shield the White House from Republican criticism over its plans for significant cuts to the Pentagon budget. |
Panetta's Pentagon, Without the Blank CheckOn The Radar Tan and ruddy-faced, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta took his seat in a hearing room one morning this month ready for battle. The enemy, he warned lawmakers ominously, was “a blind, mindless” one that could “badly damage our capabilities” and “truly devastate our national defense.” |
June 10, 2011Weekly Show As his top staff resigns, Newt Gingrich’s presidential ambitions seem to falter while Democrats distance themselves from Rep. Anthony Weiner after he confessed to sexually explicit online activity. Also, a report on the future of Afghanistan as U.S. troops get set to withdraw. Joining Gwen: James Kitfield, National Journal; John Dickerson, Slate/CBS News; and Karen Tumulty, Washington Post. |
