You Gotta Be Kidding Me--McCain Reveals That Obama *Might* Be in Iraq This Weekend

If this is a true wire story, Senator John McCain just seriously compromised the safety and security of Senator Barack Obama and everyone traveling with him--plus any military members or private security personnel assigned to protect him.

This is the lead on a story just out over the Reuters wire ...

Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Friday that his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, is likely to be in Iraq over the weekend.

The Obama campaign has tried to cloak the Illinois senator's trip in some measure of secrecy for security reasons. The White House, State Department and Pentagon do not announce senior officials' visits to Iraq in advance.

"I believe that either today or tomorrow -- and I'm not privy to his schedule -- Sen. Obama will be landing in Iraq with some other senators" who make up a congressional delegation, McCain told a campaign fund-raising luncheon.

The Reuters piece hints at it. But if Obama is going to be in Iraq this weekend, this is a major breach on McCain's part. As a knowledgeable insider notes ...

If it is true that Obama is going to Iraq this weekend, it is a very serious mistake for McCain to have disclosed it publically. Even for run-of-the-mill CODELs the military gives guidance like, "Please strongly discourage Congressional offices from issuing press releases prior to their trips which mention their intent to travel to the AOR and/or the dates of that travel or their scheduled meetings. Such releases are a serious compromise to OPSEC." If Obama is going to Iraq this weekend, I can not begin to imagine how much this is complicating the security planning for the trip.

It's known that Obama is leaving on his foreign trip this weekend and the Journal OpEd page this morning said that Obama could arrive in Iraq "as early as this weekend." And with a slew of reporters in tow, it's not exactly highly classified information. But there is a reason definite information about these sorts of trips aren't released in advance.

Unbelievable. Lives are on the line when politicians visit Iraq. Why would McCain do such a thing? Did he leak it on purpose, to force Obama to cancel his visit? There has already been a charge of tampering with regards to Obama's visit to the Brandenburg Gate.

Someone needs to demand some answers from the McCain campaign.

h/t to Talking Points Memo

Here's another story about this exact same thing--from the Politico:

So Josh Marshall is probably right to raise an eyebrow that John McCain -- of all people -- just said, at a fundraiser, that Obama would be in Iraq with other senators this weekend.

Ironically, McCain and the GOP have been demanding for months that Obama go to Iraq; his comment may have made the trip slightly more complicated.

His comment was reported by Reuters.

NOTE: Nobody's suggesting here that McCain was deliberately trying to do harm. And some hints as to the timing of the trip had already leaked out elsewhere in the media -- the Wall Street Journal mentioned a coming trip, and Andrea MItchell said on Morning Joe today that he'd be in Iraq "shortly."

I don't believe McCain wanted any harm to come to Obama or anyone else--I believe McCain wanted to keep Obama from going to Iraq because the visuals of Obama being greeted by raucous troops and of Obama actually speaking extemporaneously and knowing what the hell he's talking about would be a devastating comparison to McCain's Grandpa Simpson routine as of late...

--WS

BREAKING NEWS: Air Force secretary, chief of staff asked to resign

Mission Accomplished

Pentagon drives bad news off the front page.

Is this the end of the God Boys?

What should the top story of the day be? The fact that the Bush Administration has conclusively been caught lying to get us into a war?




Silly reader--the biggest story in the country is a horse that can run fast.

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The Air Force Times: 1:23PM

Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley resigned this morning at a meeting with Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Moseley was summoned to an early morning meeting with Mullen to discuss a report on the Air Force’s problems handling nuclear weapons. The report, by Navy Adm. Kirkland Donald, director of naval nuclear propulsion, convinced Defense Secretary Robert Gates that senior officials should be held accountable.

Moseley resigned in response.

At the same time, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England was dispatched to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to meet with Air Force Secretary Michael W. Wynne, sources said, where he was expected to ask for Wynne’s resignation.

It is not clear how quickly these changes could take effect, and other senior officers could still be relieved in the wake of the Donald report.

Moseley could stay on until July or later, at Gates’ discretion.

Navy Capt. John Kirby, Mullen’s spokesman, declined to comment but did not deny the story. A Defense Department spokesman also did not comment.

It is not yet known how who will succeed Moseley and Wynne, but Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Duncan McNabb will likely become acting chief of staff.

The stunning development follows a series of high-profile scandals and disagreements between Air Force leadership and Gates in the past year, during which both the Pentagon and congressional leadership have increasingly expressed frustration about the Air Force’s top bosses.

Wynne became Air Force secretary in November 2005, and Moseley took office in September 2005. Moseley’s term expires in September 2009, and Wynne served at the pleasure of the president.

Moseley, a former fighter pilot, has been in the Air Force since 1972. Before becoming chief, he served as commander of U.S. Central Command Air Forces and then as vice chief of staff from August 2003 until September 2005.

Wynne served as an Air Force officer from 1966 until 1973 and then began a nearly 30-year career in the aerospace industry. He rose to become president of General Dynamics’ space division and general manager of space launch systems at Lockheed Martin. He re-entered government service in 2001 and served four years as principal deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics.

While the simultaneous removal of the Air Force’s top civilian and uniformed leaders comes as a surprise, there has been speculation for months among defense insiders that one or both of them could be in trouble.

The Air Force has been rocked by a series of missteps during the past year, and Moseley and Wynne’s relationships with Gates, England and members of Congressional defense committees have steadily eroded.

Both men are well-liked personally, but that apparently was not enough to make up for a perceived lack of leadership.

More screenshots - notice how no one is paying attention to the release of the Senate Intelligence Committee report on manipulated intelligence:

Afternoon Roundup

Update:

A U.S. Air Force B-1 bomber caught fire Friday after a landing at al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, U.S. military officials said.

The crew evacuated safely, the officials said.

They said the fire began while the plane was taxiing after landing about 9:10 p.m. at al-Udeid, the headquarters of U.S. military air operations for the Middle East.

Officials said the fire on the bomber was contained. A military board of inquiry has been appointed to investigate the incident, they said.

The officials said initial reports said the plane crashed at the headquarters of the U.S. military's air operations for the Middle East.

Commenter Bond, James Bond passed along word that the crew was based out of Elmendorf.

AND

PARIS, France (AP) -- Pirates seized control of a French luxury yacht carrying 30 crew members Friday in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia's coast, the French government and the ship's owner said/

Attackers stormed the three-mast Le Ponant as it returned without passengers from the Seychelles, in the Indian Ocean, toward the Mediterranean Sea, said officials with French maritime transport company CMA-CGM.



"This is a blatant act of piracy," Prime Minister Francois Fillon told reporters while on a visit to Brussels. "The Defense and Foreign ministries are mobilized to act as quickly as possible, I hope in the coming minutes or hours to try to win the freedom of these hostages."

He did not elaborate. France has considerable military resources in the region, including a base in Djibouti and a naval flotilla circulating in the Indian Ocean.

The ship was in the high seas in the Gulf of Aden, off Somalia's coast in the Indian Ocean, the ministry said. At least some of the crew members are French. The company declined to identify any other crew member nationalities.

"French authorities are handling the situation," Jean-Emmanuel Sauvee, managing director of La Compagnie des Iles du Ponant, told reporters in the southeastern city of Marseille, where his subsidiary of CMA-CGM is based. The company did not want to comment further so as not to endanger the crew members held hostage, he said.