What Caught My Eye Today

Iraq - Honestly, I don't know what to make of these two stories. They sound rather--oh, what's word I'm looking for here--contradictory. Why don't you judge for yourselves.

Iraq's security forces will be unable to take control of the country in the next 18 months, and Baghdad's national police force is so rife with corruption it should be scrapped entirely, according to a new independent assessment. The study is a sweeping and detailed look at Iraq's security forces that will factor heavily into Congress' upcoming debate on the war. Republicans see success by the Iraqi forces as critical to bringing U.S. troops home, while an increasing number of Democrats say the U.S. should stop training and equipping such units altogether. The 20-member panel of mostly retired senior military and police officers concludes that Iraq's military, in particular its army, shows the most promise of becoming a viable, independent security force with time. But the group predicts an adequate logistics system to support these ground forces is at least another two years away. The report also offers a scathing assessment of Iraq's Interior Ministry and recommends scrapping Iraq's national police force, which it describes as dysfunctional and infiltrated by militias.

Meanwhile...

The top U.S. military commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, has suggested he would recommend a cut in U.S. troop numbers around March when he delivers long-awaited testimony to Congress next week. In Sydney for a meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders, Bush said he saw signs of progress in Iraq on both the military and political fronts and again held out the possibility of a cut in troop numbers from the current 160,000.

So I say again, which is it? All I see here is more ammunition for Congress and the President to throw at each other.

Senate - To the dismay of fellow Republicans, Sen. Larry Craig launched a determined drive to save his seat on Wednesday, vowing to stay in office if allowed to withdraw his guilty plea in a men's room sex sting. The decision to deploy his legal team marked a reversal of his pledge to resign on Sept. 30, and raised the possibility of a protracted legal and political struggle, much of it playing out in public, with gay sex at its core. Lawyers not involved in the case have said Craig faces a difficult challenge, pointing to Minnesota Rules of Criminal Procedure requiring that a defendant show a "manifest injustice" to withdraw a guilty plea. In Craig's case, he voluntarily signed a plea agreement that included a provision stating that the court would not accept such a confession of guilt from anyone who believed himself innocent. Craig's campaign suffered an instant setback, however, when the ethics committee refused to set aside a complaint lodged against him. What a boob! I vote for the other guys. You'd think I'd be happy that this guy was screwing with his fellow Republicans. But this is going too far. Give it up, dude.

Air Force - A B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed with six nuclear warheads and flown for more than three hours across several states last week, prompting an Air Force investigation and the firing of one commander. The plane was carrying advanced cruise missiles from Minot Air Force Base, N.D., to Barksdale Air Force Base, La., on Aug. 30. The missiles, which are being decommissioned, were mounted onto pylons on the bomber's wings and it is unclear why the warheads had not been removed beforehand. According to the officials, the weapons are designed with multiple safety features that ensure the warheads don't accidentally detonate. Arming the weapons requires a number of stringent protocols and authentication codes that must be followed for detonation. And they are designed to withstand a significant impact, including an aircraft crash, without detonating. I'm sorry, but how could someone possibly confuse a normal ordinance with a freaking nuclear warhead? And another thing, how does one know if the 'safety features designed to withstand an aircraft crash' actually work. Call me a skeptic, but there are alot of things out there that don't function exactly how they were designed.

Germany - Three men have been arrested in Germany on suspicion of planning a "massive" attack on US facilities in the country. A Federal prosecutor said the three had trained at camps in Pakistan and procured some 1,500lbs of chemicals for explosives. Media reports said the men were planning attacks against a US military base in Ramstein and Frankfurt airport. The suspects were alleged to be members of the German cell of a group she named as Islamic Jihad Union. Two of the men were German nationals who had converted to Islam, while the third was a Turkish man. They had been under surveillance since December, but the authorities decided to act when it became clear the men were planning to move their huge stores of hydrogen peroxide. On behalf of those of us who can barely stand the long security lines at airports, many, many thanks to German law enforcement agencies responsible for foiling the attempt.

iPod - Apple Inc. slashed the price of the iPhone by $200 Wednesday — a rare move for the company that typically discounts only older products. It also updated its iPod media players, introducing a model with a touch-screen and other iPhone features. Analysts said the price drop would definitely boost sales, possibly allowing Apple to achieve its self-proclaimed goal of selling 1 million iPhones by the end of September. But they also questioned the move, which is not consistent with Apple's standard marketing practice of lowering prices during a product's second or third update. Apple also typically keeps the price the same but adds new features and storage when a product is upgraded. See this is why I rank analysts up there with politicians. When was the last time you heard something insightful from one of these blow hards. Case in point...this could be a good move if sales go up, but might be a bad move if profits suffer do to price cutting. Way to go out on a limb there, buckwheat.

Tennis - I'll start my U.S. Open update by saying my picks got hammered last night. Both Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal lost--which pretty much leaves me with Venus Williams. Speaking of Serena...uh-oh.

The American media turned on Serena Williams on Wednesday, labeling the former world number one as "classless" and "graceless" after her sullen reaction to her U.S. Open exit at the hands of Justine Henin. Top seed Henin beat the American 7-6 6-1 in the quarter-finals for the third consecutive grand-slam event on Tuesday but a despondent Williams gave the Belgian scant praise. "I just think she made a lot of lucky shots and I made a lot of errors," Williams said at her news conference. "I really don't feel like talking about it. It's like I don't want to get fined. That's the only reason I came. I can't afford to pay the fines because I keep losing." Players who fail to appear for post-match news conferences face fines from tennis officials. Seriously, the media should be getting on its knees and kissing Serena's feet. Finally a scandal to report on; a weak one (and let's be real here, an understandable one), but a scandal nonetheless.