Third Way Dispatch

Well another Fourth of July has passed—barbeque, fireworks and lots of hoopla for the Good Ole U.S. of A. Hard to believe we are a nation at war, but it’s true. For about 130,000 American troops, the 4th of July was just another grim day in Iraq.

It was grim in terms of lives lost and bodies maimed, the futures that were ruined or permanently knocked off course. In fact, it’s really hard to see past that human cost, especially when you talk to someone face to face who is paying it.

But there is another cost, and it’s one that every American is paying, whether we know it or not. So consider that the Fourth of July in Iraq, as with every day in Iraq, was not only grim, but expensive. Really, really expensive.

Thomas Lowell Tucker went to Madras High School. How do I know that? Because Madras, Oregon only has one high school – it’s a town of 5,000 people. That’s also how I know the war in Iraq just became personal for everyone in Madras.

Private First Class Tucker and Private First Class Kristian Mechaca of Houston were manning a checkpoint about 12 miles south of Baghdad when they came under attack on Friday. A fellow soldier was killed in the attack, and Tucker and Mechaca disappeared.

Larry was a fairly ordinary guy – he had just turned 60 and celebrated his 34th wedding anniversary. He was an affable fellow with a decent job as an administrator – in charge of personnel and property management and the like.

In fact, he was on his way to work when two paid killers armed with a silenced 7 mm shot him in the back of the head and left him for dead.

Yesterday, in a startling and uncharacteristic bout of honesty, President Bush admitted that he has talked tough on Iraq but that talk was totally empty.

Fighter pilots go through a special kind of training affectionately known as “panic in a can.” In the training, a simulated cockpit is filled with water and spun around, with the occupant trying to escape and come up for air.

One of the most famous fighter pilots to do the “panic in a can” is George W. Bush.

He didn’t get this training during in his lazy, hazy summer days with the Texas Air National Guard, however. He got it as President, when he landed on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln in his flight suit to give a speech under the infamous Mission Accomplished banner.

Three years later, the President is still trying to escape and come up for air.

The Candidate Training that is described in Sharon’s post has garnered some attention.

The premier political tipsheets all covered it – it was the lead (or lede) item in ABC’s The Note on Thursday, and it’s been covered in CNN’s Morning Grind. The April 5 edition of the Hotline (subscription only) covered the press conference held at the end of the DSCC training:

“At a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee briefing announcing the poll, three Dem Senate candidates, Bob Casey of PA, Rep. Sherrod Brown of OH and Jim Pederson of AZ, previewed the party’s national security message. One word: competence. As in: the Bush administration is not. Two more words: “tough and smart” as in—that’s what the Democrats are.

There was also a great story in CQ.