Dogs of war

Reading the emails from the Pentagon's media listserv is usually pretty repetitive; mostly depressing updates about Iraq, Rumsfeld's seemingly non-existent media event schedule, or something really newsworthy (sarcasm alert), like country music star Chely Wright singing to the troops "Shut up and Drive." But yesterday they sent out a winner: Pentagon Hot Dog Stand, Cold War Legend, to be Torn Down.

The Soviet Union is a thing of the past, but the hot dog lives on in America."

The Pentagon eatery, which has not been open for a few years but served the top brass a steady diet of hot dogs throughout the Cold War, is rumored to have been a source of concern for the Soviet Union. All they saw on satellite was a group of officers entering and leaving the building at about the same time every day, so they concluded it led to a top secret bunker.

There's even rumor that the Soviets always had at least two missiles aimed at the stand, which was thus nicknamed Café Ground Zero. It gives a whole new meaning to nuking a hot dog.