Here are two columns you should definitely read.

The first is Bob Novak's column from April 8th which details growing frustration from America's top generals that they've been forced to go along with the administration's fiction that no more troops are needed in Iraq.

"Abizaid made clear Monday," writes Novak, "that he was not going to be the fall guy if conditions in Iraq further deteriorate. If commanders want more troops to fulfill their mission, he will ask for them. That would leave Rumsfeld with no choice. The secretary announced on Tuesday that the generals 'will get what they ask.'"

Also be sure to read Jim Pinkerton's piece from Friday on why the Bush campaign probably won't be using any more 9/11 images in its ads. In addition to being an accomplished columnist, Jim's background as a former George H.W. Bush staffer and a Republican (if perhaps now something of an alienated one) gives his columns on these topics a certain dissonant edginess and power.

Pinkerton's column was written before Saturday evening's release of the August 6th PDB. But that only makes his words more pointed and on the mark.