Entries for March 28, 2007

This comes to us from defense reporter Anna Mulrine:

Air Force General Lance Smith, the head of Joint Forces Command, which coordinates the provision of forces to Iraq, told defense writers this morning that if the troop surge continues through the summer, "in a worse case planning scenario....there is a high possibility" that the "dwell" time, or time at home for units between war zone tours, would decrease and that the tours of more units in Iraq would have to be extended.

Army units are normally deployed to Iraq for one year, but some units in Iraq and Afghanistan have been extended for three more months -- a total of 15 months. However, "as of now," said Smith, there is "no one we'd expect to be there 18 months." With five additional brigades headed to Iraq to fulfill the President's surge plan, Smith told reporters that the number of support troops could increase as well, and that the Joint Forces Command is already planning for such needs.

"But we always do," Smith said. He added that any Congressional initiatives to mandate a minimum at-home time of, for example, one year for Army units would have a "significant impact" on planning within Joint Forces Command. Such a dwell time requirement "makes no sense," said Smith, and would be "very difficult" to achieve "without taking some absolutely significant risks in other places." Smith added: "Are we willing to pull a brigade out of Korea?" for example, "or send reserve forces over in ways that don't meet their needs?"

Political correspondent Dan Gilgoff's story on USNews.com today about evangelist James Dobson's take on the 2008 elections had a strange genesis. Gilgoff had sought an interview with Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, for over a year and a half for a book Gilgoff was writing on the Christian Right, The Jesus Machine, which was published this month. Dobson only agreed to answer written questions--and then abruptly called Gilgoff on Tuesday to offer his thoughts.

"After being declined interview requests for more than a year and a half, I was obviously shocked to get a phone call from Dobson out of the blue yesterday," Gilgoff says. "But I was gratified to learn that he thinks my book gives him a fair shake. I set out to write a book free of bias, which is difficult to do on a subject as radioactive as the Christian Right."

See below for audio from Gilgoff on what he learned while writing the book. More information on The Jesus Machine is available here.

In response to an item we posted yesterday about how some wary government aides are now conducting business over text messages instead of E-mail (for fear of their correspondence being subpoenaed, as has happened at the Department of Justice recently), one reader wrote in with an interesting question about the implications.

Kim McCall in California asks, "Does the use of nongovernmental channels of communication interfere with a claim of executive privilege? Does it constitute a breach of security?"

Retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, a widely respected advisor to the U.S. military, has released a blistering report on the current situation in Iraq. McCaffrey's findings are based on interviews with dozens of officials during a March, 2007, trip to the war-torn region and Kuwait.

"We are at the 'knee of the curve,'" writes McCaffrey. His report, available here, employs few niceties in describing the disorganization and deterioration in Iraq.

The retired Army general, now a professor of International Affairs at West Point, estimates that 3,000 Iraqi citizens are murdered each month, with some 2,900 IED attacks a month against U.S. forces.

McCaffrey does credit the new commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, as improving the situation on the ground. But that doesn't stop him from warning that the military is "in a position of strategic peril" while fighting a war which could weaken the U.S. for decades to come.

Etc.: Exclusive: Iranians Had Showdown With U.S. Forces, on USNews.com

Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Barack Obama, and Bill Richardson are all in Washington today for a candidate forum hosted by the Building and Construction Trades Department of the AFL-CIO.

Bill Richardson then heads to Boston for a private fundraiser.

Meanwhile, John McCain is in Atlantic Beach, Fla., for a town hall meeting.

Update: Mitt Romney holds fundraisers in Baton Rogue, La., and Charleston, S.C.

Update: Rudy Giuliani raises money in Las Vegas, N.V.

From the Political Bulletin: Candidates Dampen Expectations for First-Quarter Fundraising.

British officials continue to insist that 15 members of the Royal Navy who were detained for trespassing in Iran's waters were actually in Iraqi territory.

After a series of truck bombings went off in the northwestern town of Tal Afar today, members of the Iraqi police force, along with Shiite militiants, reportedly went on a spree of revenge, killing at least 60 Sunni residents, according to the Associated Press.

By a vote of 50 to 48, Senate Democrats narrowly managed to keep a provision in a military spending bill requiring a gradual withdrawal from Iraq--a measure Bush will almost certainly veto.

A new law in Texas just signed by Gov. Rick Perry allows residents to defend themselves with firearms if threatened at home, in their car, or at work.