Entries for May 09, 2007

The head of Air Force Special Operations Command, Lt. Gen. Michael Wooley, told defense reporters Wednesday morning that any delay in funding would not begin affecting the command until August.

That's when "we start running into trouble," he said. He added that "the big thing is flying hours for us--that's when we run out."

The funding is being held up because Congress and President Bush disagree about setting timetables for pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq.

Last week, another high-ranking military official, the deputy director of operations on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had a similar assessment, saying he had not yet observed any consequences from the delay.

To those who say the Internet arcs toward the trivial, try this on for size: Currently, the most searched-for phrase on the blog aggregate site Technorati.com is Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul.

Paris Hilton is No. 5.

Commentators often refer to the Internet as the great equalizer, but when it comes to the 2008 election, it appears that the murky economy of Web traction may even give an edge to the long shots. And Paul, a Republican congressman from Texas and an avowed Libertarian known around D.C. as "Dr. No" for his persistent opposition to just about everything, is a long shot if there ever was one. He has yet to break 2 percent in a poll of GOP candidates and raised just under $640,000 in the first fundraising quarter of the year, pocket change compared with the three GOP candidates who topped $10 million.

FBI Director Robert Mueller today said that the agency watched six New Jersey men suspected of plotting against Fort Dix in New Jersey for several months in order to soak up all the intelligence possible.

Instead of moving in when it first discovered the clan of suspected terrorists, Mueller told reporters that the FBI wanted to watch them instead and see how they planned the alleged attack, who they allegedly plotted with, and where their alleged funds came from.

Mueller explained: "We have to exploit from the intelligence point of view as long as we can to determine whether there are ties overseas, to determine whether other conspirators are out there that we are unaware of, where they are getting their weapons, and where they are getting their financing and the like."

He said the trigger in the case against the six suspected Islamic radicals was when it appeared they were prepared to allegedly purchase foreign weapons from sources the FBI had no connection with.

--Paul Bedard

Just days before anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles was set to go on trial in Texas for immigration fraud, a federal judge threw out his case, ruling that the government manipulated Posada's immigration interview.

Both Cuba and Venezuela allege that Posada was involved in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner, but the United States has barred his extradition to either country.

In this week's edition of U.S.News & World Report, senior editor Liz Halloran reports from Miami's Little Havana, where many who share Posada's anti-Castro sentiments awaited the trial with bated breath. The full article is available here.

This morning's top stories:

• Vice President Cheney made an unannounced visit to Iraq today to meet with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and receive a first-hand briefing from American military and civilian officials.
• An unidentified video store clerk has become the unlikely hero after his tip to law enforcement officers allowed them to thwart an alleged plot by six foreign-born men to assault New Jersey's Fort Nix. (Video.)
• A total of $900 in donations that presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani and his then wife made to Planned Parenthood in the 1990s, most recently in 1999, has sharpened criticism from antiabortion advocates. Giuliani says he personally hates abortion but has not strongly called for the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.
• A character on a children's show run by the militant group Hamas that bears a strong resemblance to Mickey Mouse is preaching for Islamic domination, the AP reports.
• Efforts in Little Rock to commemorate the 50-year anniversary of the historic desegregation battle there are being overshadowed by a new battle over test scores and control of the school board.