Surge, Phase Two

Okay, by now you know that the Administration has decided to extend army tours in Iraq and Afghanistan from twelve to fifteen months.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Tours of duty for members of the U.S. Army will be extended from 12 months to 15 months effective immediately, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Wednesday.

"What we're trying to do here is provide some long-term predictability to our soldiers and their families," Gates told reporters at the Pentagon.

Apparently Bob Gates is pissed off that this announcement was leaked prematurely. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates complained bitterly today that "some very thoughtless person" at the Pentagon leaked word about duty extensions for Army units in Iraq and Afghanistan. Gates said that the leak robbed the Army "the opportunity to notify unit commanders who could then talk to their troops 48 hours before we made a public announcement."

But get this: according to Tim Grieve, or to one of his regular readers, the real reason he's pissed off is that the timing of this announcement undermines one of their planned talking points: that if the Congressional Democrats don't cave they will be forced to extend tours. This is what Bush said at VMI: "If Congress fails to pass a bill I can sign by mid-May ... Some of our forces now deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq may need to be extended, because other units are not ready to take their places." Now that the story is blown and we know they're already going to extend tours, they can no longer pin it on the defeat-o-crats.