'A GOOD LETTER'

After Cheney Remark ,

Sen. Clinton Turns to Bush

For Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), a sternly worded letter she recently received from top Pentagon official Eric S. Edelman may well be the gift that keeps on giving.

When Edelman responded to Clinton's request for a briefing on troop-withdrawal plans from Iraq by accusing her of reinforcing "enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies," the Democratic presidential contender made immediate political hay, insisting that the Pentagon disavow what she described as an outrageous political attack. Defense Secretary Robert Gates tried to patch things up by acknowledging that Congress must conduct oversight of the administration, but Vice President Cheney managed to stir things up again, telling Larry King on CNN Tuesday night that he thought Edelman, his former foreign policy adviser, had written Clinton a "good letter." Cheney suggested that Clinton was asking for operational plans from the Pentagon -- a contention Clinton dismissed in a new letter sent to the vice president yesterday.

"Your comments, agreeing with Under Secretary Edelman, not Secretary Gates, have left me wondering about the true position of the Administration," Clinton wrote in the letter, which was released by her office. "Therefore, I am writing to President Bush asking that he set the record straight about the Administration's position regarding the role of Congress in oversight of the war."

Clinton and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) plan to introduce legislation today requiring the Pentagon to prepare a report and briefing for Congress on contingency plans for redeploying U.S. forces from Iraq.

-- Michael Abramowitz

'DEEPLY TROUBLED'

Dodd Opines on Murdoch

And Media Monopolies