Following the Dec. 2 New York Times story on a Nov. 6 memo sent by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to President Bush that suggested it was time to change the Administration approach to the war in Iraq, National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that the President plans to “make some changes.” Hadley called Rumsfeld’s memo, sent two days before he announced his resignation, a helpful “laundry list” of proposals that will be considered along with those from the Iraq Study Group, due out this week. Among Rumsfeld’s options was to accelerate a drawdown of US facilities in Iraq, position a stronger US force along the borders with Iraq and Syria, and provide US forces for security only to those provinces or cities that ask for US help.
Aircraft readiness will suffer if Congress does not approve some $1.5 billion worth of spare parts the Air Force requested in its annual Unfunded Priorities List, sent to Capitol Hill last week, Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin said.