What Caught My Eye Today

Iraq - The top U.S. commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus told Congress that hard-won gains in the war zone are too fragile to promise any troop pullouts beyond this summer, holding his ground against impatient Democrats and refusing to commit to more withdrawals before President Bush leaves office in January. Security is getting better, and Iraq's own forces are becoming more able, Petraeus said. But he also ticked off a list of reasons for worry, including the threat of a resurgence of Sunni or Shiite extremist violence. He highlighted Iran as a special concern, for its training and equipping of extremists. Petraeus was told by a parade of Democrats that, after five years of war, it was past time to turn over much more of the war burden to the Iraqis. Those senators said Iraq will not attain stability until the United States makes the decision to begin withdrawing in large numbers and forces the Iraqis to settle their differences. I listened to a couple of hours of the testimony on NPR. Here's the Reader's Digest version of the proceedings:

• Military gains in Iraq: Fragile and reversible
• Political gains made by Iraqi government: Fragile and reversible
• Prospects for further gains for peace: Fragile and reversible
• Chances that we'll stay the course: Hell, yes. Why change things when they seem to be going so well?

2008 Presidential Race - The presidential campaign Hillary Clinton said that her husband, the former president, supports a free trade agreement with Colombia that she strenuously opposes. Always nice to see the happy couple working from the same script. The acknowledgment adds new hurdles to Clinton's bid to woo Democratic voters in Pennsylvania and elsewhere who believe free trade agreements have eliminated thousands of U.S. jobs. Bill Clinton has been his wife's most prominent campaign surrogate and advocate for months. A high point of his presidency was passage of the North America Free Trade Agreement, which his wife now criticizes at virtually every campaign stop. White House records show that as first lady Hillary Clinton attended several meetings designed to build congressional support for NAFTA in the early 1990s. She says she had reservations about the pact at the time, and made her feelings known in such gatherings. I would like to have been a fly on the wall for those conversations. And another thing, given that NAFTA was enacted, it certainly appears that Hillary wasn't terribly convincing in expressing her reservations to Congress. Correct me if I'm mistaken, but isn't one of her claims for securing the Democratic nomination, that she's experienced in working with Congress? I'm just trying to get my facts straight.

U.S. Economy - Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the U.S. economy was in recession, and said it would be appropriate to tap public funds to resolve the mortgage-related crisis that has helped pull the economy under. Gee whiz, thanks for the tip, Al. Greenspan has in recent days made a series of public statements defending his record at the Fed in light of criticism that a long period of low interest rates and a laissez-faire oversight approach led to reckless market behavior that resulted in the sharp housing correction and the ongoing credit freeze. Ah, my mistake. He's not giving advice; he's covering his ass, I mean legacy. Funny how those two terms sometimes get confused.

Olympic Torch Relay - Several hundred supporters of Tibet marched through the streets of San Francisco to criticize China before the Olympic torch is run through the city the next day. Think of these protests as warm-ups for the real deal tomorrow. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said he had been in contact with French and British officials to gain insight on how the city should handle protesters. Given the success--or lack thereof--of these to cities to conduct an orderly relay, maybe Newsom should look for advice from other sources. Many human rights groups have mobilized in San Francisco, the only U.S. city to host the Olympic torch as it makes its way to the games in Beijing in August. Some oppose China's rule in Tibet, others Beijing's policies toward Darfur and Burma, and others are concerned with issues such as animal rights. And still others will use any excuse to get out of going to work.

South Korea - A Russian capsule carrying South Korea's first astronaut and two cosmonauts blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, en route to the international space station. South Korean bioengineer Yi So-yeon, 29, is the world's youngest-ever female astronaut. The South Korean government has a $20 million deal with Russia to co-sponsor the flight in exchange for Yi's trip. She was among 36,000 applicants for the job in a 2006 nationwide competition, and plans to conduct 18 scientific experiments during her nine days on the space station. I hear the screening process was brutal. First, applicants had to post a 30-second video on YouTube saying, "why I want to go to space." Then, they had to sing in front of Simon, Paula, and Randy, who selected the final 24 candidates. After that, they were divided into two tribes on a deserted island and had to compete in various physical challenges, until only one cosmonaut-survivor was left. On top of all that, there was the small matter of make sure that $20 million check cleared. Dude, I hope the trip is worth it.