Inside Washington

Sat. Apr. 26, 2008


Ready, Aim, Misfire!

Can Army artillery units hit the side of a barn? Maybe not, according to a troubling internal memo sent this month to Army Chief of Staff George Casey by three former brigade commanders.

“The once-mighty ‘King of Battle’ ” is a “dead branch walking,” write the active-duty colonels in the five-page document obtained by National Journal. With “growing alarm,” they describe “deterioration” in artillery readiness to perform its most basic missions. In training, “firing incidents [occur] during every rotation”; “crew drills are very slow, and any type of [disorder] halts operations”; and, absent instructor intervention, “most” cannon platoons would have fired in unsafe conditions, the memo says.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have drawn experienced artillery troops into other jobs—like infantry and transportation—where soldiers are badly needed, the authors write. Ninety percent of fire-support personnel have been reassigned, leaving behind fewer than 10 percent certified for the mission.

“General Casey seeks out and appreciates receiving feedback [from] commanders and soldiers in the field,” said an Army spokesman, who declined to comment on the memo’s specifics.—Elaine Grossman

Murmurs

Psst! On the campaign trail, John McCain touts his commitment to combating global warming. But he may vote against a bill sponsored by two of his closest Senate allies that attempts to do just that. McCain raised eyebrows last week when he said he would not support the legislation from Sens. John Warner, R-Va., and Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., to impose mandatory reductions on greenhouse-gas emissions unless it provided “a dramatically increased role for nuclear power” … Where’s that toy-safety bill? After all the toy recalls last year, lawmakers promised swift action to tighten safety regulations. But a conference committee to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions of a bill stalled out over the past month over a turf battle. “I’m ready to dive in and get it resolved,” lead Senate sponsor Mark Pryor, D-Ark., told NJ … McCain’s presidential campaign has tapped two stellar fundraisers, Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia and Houston businessman Fred Zeidman, to spearhead its money chase and voter outreach in the Jewish community. “You’ve got to go where the money is and [to] swing states,” Zeidman said. Think Florida and California …

Vital Statistics

4-to-1

Ratio of newly registered Pennsylvania Democrats to Republicans this year

—Pennsylvania Department of State

11-to-1

Ratio of registered Pennsylvania voters switching parties this year: Democrats gained 11 for every one Republican

—Pennsylvania Department of State

Cool to Warming

After a lot of yelling and waving, it appears that environmental advocates have yet to significantly move the dial on public angst over global warming. A new Gallup Poll of 1,012 adults shows that 58 percent said that warming will pose a “serious threat” in their lifetime, but only 34 percent supported “immediate, drastic action.” That’s down 1 point from 1996, and even the percentage of people who said they want “some additional actions” has ticked up only 4 points, to 52 percent since that year. The score on the warming-worry meter is actually less than the percentage of people who fret “a great deal” about the polluting of drinking water, lakes, and the soil, or the loss of animal habitats, according to the poll. —Neil Munro

Endless Stars

The military already issues medals honoring service in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now the ever-increasing number of troops who are deployed to war a second time (or a third, or a fourth) will be eligible to wear additional “campaign stars” if they participate in more than one Pentagon-defined “phase” of either conflict. You will be reassured to know that the Iraq war is already in the “National Resolution” phase—which began with the holding of elections in December 2005, according to a Pentagon press release—while Afghanistan entered the phase euphoniously named “Consolidation II” in October 2006. Each of these phases, the new policy noted, “continues through a yet-undesignated end date.”—Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.

Jail for Jimmy?

Former President Carter’s recent confab with Hamas has plenty of folks boiling. A chorus of conservative and pro-Israel pundits—from mainstream Commentarymagazine.com to the biblical prophecy-focused Watch.org—contend that Carter’s tête-à-tête broke the law. They refer to the 1799 Logan Act, which prohibits private citizens from negotiating with foreign governments without Uncle Sam’s authority. In the past, critics have decried such alleged Logan Act breaches as then-Sen. George McGovern’s visit to Cuba, ex-President Nixon’s return to China, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Syrian sojourn, but no one has ever been prosecuted. Given that Palestinians are stateless, it’s not clear that Hamas qualifies as a foreign government. It isn’t the first time Carter stands accused: Brent Scowcroft, former national security adviser to President George H.W. Bush, charged that Carter crossed the Logan line in the early 1990s, when he lobbied members of the U.N. Security Council and Arab League to find alternatives to the United States’ proposed military action in Kuwait.—Julie Kosterlitz

Q&A With Richard Dieter

Executive director, Death Penalty Information Center

NJ: Were you surprised by the Supreme Court’s 7-2 ruling supporting Kentucky’s method of lethal-injection executions?

Dieter: It wasn’t surprising that the Court ruled that Kentucky’s one lethal injection was done by a constitutional method. But other inmates in other states have been raising much broader concerns about the series of lethal injections in their state, about the training and supervision of the guards, about the dosages, and about the alternative drugs administered.

NJ: So the dangers of lethal-injection administration have been more severe in other states?

Dieter: Yes. A state like Florida has had a number of problem executions. Places like Texas, California, and Ohio, you had lengthy hearings about not just lethal injections but about what specifically happens in the death chamber.

NJ: Is lethal injection the most humane method for capital punishment?

Dieter: I think lethal injection is a better method than others; it just has to be done right, where it’s humane and the inmate becomes unconscious and will slowly die during that unconsciousness. It’s better than frying with electricity or hanging. But we thought [that because]inmates were not moving, they therefore must be asleep or unconscious. Apparently that’s not the case. Potassium chloride—which is the final drug that goes through the heart and veins—causes searing, burning pain. —Gregg Sangillo

What Ever Happened to … Dale Bumpers?

It has been more than nine years since former Sen. Dale Bumpers, D-Ark., delivered a powerful closing argument in defense of his longtime friend Bill Clinton at the president’s impeachment trial. Bumpers’s folksy manner and compelling narrative won rave reviews as he made the case that marital infidelity fell far short of the constitutional standard for removing a president. He spoke on January 21, 1999, just two weeks after retiring from the Senate, where he served for 24 years. Today, ensconced at the law firm Arent Fox, where he is a member of the government-relations group, Bumpers says he doesn’t miss his old gig. “I had a few withdrawal symptoms early on, but they went away not too long after I left,” he said. At the firm, Bumpers represents such clients as Sanofi Pasteur, the largest vaccine manufacturer in the country. “I don’t mind occasionally going up to the Hill when somebody offers a crazy amendment” prompted by reports that vaccinations cause autism in children, he said. “I don’t try to be categorical about it—I just want people to be sensible about it and not deprive their children of immunizations.” Bumpers proudly calls himself a lobbyist and recalled how helpful the hired guns were when he was governor and then senator. He took a swipe at reporters who “have a wonderful time, a glorious time criticizing and knocking down lobbyists.” Bumpers knows better. —Kirk Victor