Vacation Time!

Choice A:

This is Bush's 33rd visit to his ranch since becoming president. He has spent all or part of 233 days on his Texas ranch since taking office, according to a tally by CBS News. Adding his 78 visits to Camp David and his five visits to Kennebunkport, Maine, Bush has spent all or part of 500 days in office at one of his three retreats, or more than 40 percent of his presidency.

Choice B:

War-worn troopers heading home from Iraq got a chilling order from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld yesterday: Not So Fast!

Rumsfeld said G.I.s scheduled to rotate home after a year's hardscrabble duty in Iraq will now be held over for awhile, even after their replacements arrive, to give military commanders more combat punch to counter this week's savage uprising against the American occupation.

...

The first casualties of what Rumsfeld called "taking advantage of the overlap" were a few hundred soldiers from the Army's First Armored Division. Pentagon officials told the Daily News those troops were at Baghdad International Airport preparing to return to their home base in Germany this week when the plug was pulled.

"They were on the tarmac waiting for their plane when they were told to pick up their gear, head back to camp and get ready to go back into the field," the official said. "Can you imagine the effect on morale that had?"

Posted by William Blaze at April 9, 2004 01:02 PM | TrackBack