Smart bombs: Tapped out in Idaho

Dan Whiting, spokesman for U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Limbo, has said this: “Larry’s a senator until the 30th, and he’ll be representing Idaho.”

How so? Through Wednesday, Craig had missed all 26 of the Senate’s votes since the end of summer recess, according to the Idaho Statesman. By comparison, he had missed only 51 votes in the past 16 years. That’s not to say that voting is all that senators do. They’re also busy debating the Iraq war, working on appropriations bills and attending to other matters. But Craig is not doing any of that. No, he’s busy trying to unring the bell on his guilty plea.

The sooner he realizes his career has circled the bowl, the sooner Idaho can return to full strength in the Senate.

Elementary math. Gen. David Petraeus has noted that the classic counterinsurgency tactics he is employing in Iraq typically take 10 years to be successful. Stephen Biddle, an analyst from the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of Petraeus’ advisory team, said in his personal view this tactic would require about 100,000 troops for 20 years in Iraq, according to Slate military writer Fred Kaplan. Even then, Biddle admits, it’s “a long-shot gamble.”

Military leaders have noted that troops are already stretched thin. So how can a long-term counterinsurgency campaign be sustained? Well, there’s always the draft.

It’s startling to discover that if the current strategy plays out, my 10-year-old son, who was 6 when the war started, could be fighting age before it’s over.

Childhood lesson. When I was a kid, I would often play sports at Danny Strawn’s house. Because I was much bigger, I would dominate these contests, but Danny would never give up. He knew I would have to go home eventually, and when I did, he would gloat about his victory over “the quitter.” Short of moving into his house, there’s nothing I could do.

But enough about the war.

They really are close. One thing I’ve learned as an editor over the years is that it pays to have a dirty mind, or to at least have a sense for how dirty minds work. Problem is, as I get older, I am further removed from contemporary terms for sex.

Nonetheless, even I know that this headline for a terrific column about the friendship between University of Idaho football coach Robb Akey and Washington State coach Bill Doba could cause titters across both campuses:

“Friends hook up.”