Inside the Ring

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Pace's mail

Conservative commentator Ben Stein has said and written many laudatory things about America's military. He lambasted Hollywood for not one mention of the troops during the Oscars broadcast.

But one column he wrote gained the special attention of a very important person — Marine Gen. Peter Pace, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman. In fact, Gen. Pace liked the piece so much he e-mailed it to his regular address list, including Army Gen. George Casey, the top commander in Iraq.

"I hesitate to forward e-mail but I think our service members should be aware of this," he said, under the title, "Ben Stein speaks the truth."

Mr. Stein wrote the column as an open letter to members of the armed forces. He compared a day in his life of running errands in Rancho Mirage, Calif., to their jobs of fighting the evil forces of al Qaeda.

"We are on our knees to you and we bless and pray for you every moment," he writes. "You are everything to us, as we go through our little days, and you are in the prayers of the nation and of every decent man and woman on the planet. That's who you are and what you mean. I hope you know that. Love, Ben Stein."

McCaffrey's back

Retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey returned to Iraq last month, his first visit in a year to assess the war for his colleagues at West Point. While some are still calling for more American troops, Gen. McCaffrey supports the commanders' position that troops will likely come down, not go up.

Gen. McCaffrey worries, in a post-trip memo, that an increase in troops will leave the military unable to handle other trouble spots.