At an “Ask Mitt Anything” forum this morning in Iowa, former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) was asked about why his sons have not served in the military. His response:

My sons are adults. They’ve chosen not to serve in the military in active duty and I respect their decision in that regard. … And one of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping me get elected because they think I’d be a great president.

President Bush called Barry Bonds to congratulate him for breaking Hank Aaron’s mark as the all-time homerun king. The White House was apparently in no rush to make the call. “It was after noon before the president finally called, spending about three minutes on the phone.” Why the delay? The Swamp speculates:

Might this have had anything to do with the suspicion of steroid use by the San Francisco Giant who has batted his 756th homer?

“Right now, there is a leaguewide investigation going on in regard to steroid use,” Snow, said, and the president encourages the pursuit of that investigation and also thanks senators for pressing it.

Last week, ThinkProgress noted, “Should Bonds break the home run record sometime this week, Bush will face the question of whether or not he should call to congratulate the new all-time home run king and give legitimacy to a tainted record. It should be noted, however, that his hands are hardly clean on the issue.”

In a letter to White House Counsel Fred Fielding today, Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) set a new return date of August 20 for subpoenas served to the executive branch in June. After the White House missed the original due date of July 18, Leahy granted them an extension until Aug. 1, which they also missed. Leahy writes:

Despite my patience and flexibility, you have rejected every proposal, produced none of the responsive documents, provided no basis for any claim of privilege and no accompanying log of withheld documents. I had been requesting this information for an extended time before issuing the subpoenas.

I am setting as the new return date for these four subpoenas August 20,2007, at 2:30 p.m. I look forward to compliance with the Judiciary Committee’s June 27, 2007 subpoenas to the White House Office, the Office of the Vice President, the National Security Council, and the Department of Justice.

Read the letter HERE.

The Bush administration and its supporters have pledged to Americans time and again during the past four years that the “next few months” in Iraq will be the “decisive, critical period” of the war.

The implication has always been that U.S. forces just need to hold on a little while longer for things to get better. Using an interactive timeline tool, the Center for American Progress has catalogued the broken record of false claims we’ve been hearing. Some examples:

TOM FRIEDMAN: It might be over in a week, it might be over in a month, it might be over in six months, but what’s the rush? Can we let this play out, please?” [NPR, 6/3/04]

DICK CHENEY: I think they’re in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency. [Larry King Live, 5/30/05]

JOE LIEBERMAN (I-CT): By the end of this year, we will begin to draw down significant numbers of American troops. [Washington Post, 7/7/06]

JOHN McCAIN (R-AZ): If you talk to most military experts, we’re in a critical and crucial time. We’re either going to lose this thing or win this thing within the next several months.” [Meet The Press, 11/12/06]

ZALMAY KHALILZAD: Iraq Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki “has a window of a couple months. … If the perception is that this unity government is not able to deal with this issue, then a big opportunity would have been lost.” [Washington Post, 9/30/06]

Four years later, Iraq is still plagued with violence and political instability. Since the beginning of the invasion, 3,679 U.S. soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians have died. “August has begun with a wave of U.S. troop deaths,” and Iraq’s unity government remains in disarray.

The United States has no good options given the strategic and tactical mistakes made in Iraq since 2002, but simply staying the course with an indefinite military presence is not advancing U.S. interests.

For a progressive strategy on the way forward in Iraq, read “Strategic Reset,” the Center for American Progress’s plan for reclaiming control of U.S. security in the Middle East.

– Igor Volsky