Adequate Forces?

And now the most telling two minutes in television, the latest from the "Wartime Grapevine."

Senior U.S. commanders are warning that the war on terrorism has left U.S. forces seriously under-equipped elsewhere in the world. Admiral Dennis Blair, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, told a House committee -- quote -- "We do not have adequate forces to carry out our missions if the operations for the Central Command continue at their recent past and current pace."

Air Force General Joseph Ralston, head of the European command said flatly -- quote -- "I do not have the forces today to carry out these missions," end quote.

Ralston said he hasn't had an aircraft carrier in months, and Admiral Blair said there are -- quote -- "shortages of Naval forces, of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance forces, in particular, that would have to be made up for."

Another U.S. commander, Marine General Michael Lehnert, at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, says most of the 33 countries, from which the 300 or so captives there come from, don't want them back. Said Lehnert -- quote -- "These are different than enemy POWs, who come back as heroes when they return to their country of origin. And in this particular case, a majority of the countries are not interested in getting these people back," end quote. There are exceptions, including Saudi Arabia, which has asked that its citizens being held in Cuba be sent home for prosecution.

As campaign finance reform was sailing through the U.S. Senate on a 60-40 vote on Wednesday, Senate offices were being flooded with letters, calls and e-mails from constituents. But they weren't about campaign finance. They were about the immigration bill before the Senate, which critics said would grant amnesty to hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens.

Supporters of the bill, which passed the House overwhelmingly, and which the president supports, say it would mostly enable legal aliens who are eligible for permanent residency to get it, without having to go back to their home countries first. "The Washington Times" says the calls and letters and e-mails are overwhelmingly against the bill, now before the Senate.

And "The Boston Globe" reports that the family of 6-year-old Carl Williams, of Wakefield, Massachusetts, who loves to shoot baskets with his classmates, is suing the recreation league. It won't let him play on the first- and second-graders' basketball team. The problem is that young Carl Williams is unable to use his legs, and gets around in a wheelchair. His family is suing under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The fallout for the defeat of Judge Charles Pickering nomination to a federal appellate court continues on Capitol Hill. Senate Republicans are seeking retribution for what they see as partisan tactics by Democrats against Pickering and other Bush judicial nominees. Democrats are not backing down. Fox News correspondent Carl Cameron has details.