Daily Briefing: 'Smaller, More Lethal' Force

•Military requests $3.9b to prepare Iraqi forces for a reduced American presence;Bush's "strategy for victory" would rely on a "smaller, more lethal" American force. [ NYT ]

• Bush: "I want to defeat the terrorists, and I want our troops to come home, but I don't want them to come home without having achieved victory. . . Quitting is not an exit strategy." [ WP ]

•Administration vows to respond to E.U. questions concerning secret CIA prison locations in Europe. [ WP ]

•Republicans strongly denounce Rep.Randy Cunningham's conduct in an effort to distance themselves from bribery scandal. [ NYT , LAT ]

•Businessman under investigation inCunninghamcase supported 32 House members or candidates and raised over $100,000 forBush's re-election. [ USAT , USAT ]

• Bushcontinues promotion of his border security plan; raises $1.3m for Sen.Jon Kyl(R-Ariz.) and $450,000 for Rep.Marilyn Musgrave(R-CO). [ WP , NYT ]

• R. Glenn Hubbard, the former chairman ofBush's Council of Economic Advisers, calls the president's Medicare plan "unwise": "The current Social Security and Medicare systems are on an unsustainable path. . . The drug benefit is a new entitlement. This isn't sustainable over the long haul and I don't think it's sustainable even over the next five years." [ WSJ ]

•Two defense contractors who allegedly bribedCunninghamalso worked together for several years. [ WP ]

•New Hampshire Democrats campaign to save their first-in-the-nation primary status. [ WP ]

•Parental notification case will be a test for the new Supreme Court. [ USAT , USAT ]

•Provision in House budget bill "would largely exempt antipsychotic and antidepressant medications from a larger measure designed to steer Medicaid patients to the least expensive treatment options." [ WP ]

•Department of Justice issues a 10-page rebuttal toWashington Postreport about the FBI's frequent use of "national security letters." [ WP ]