Fort Lewis’ commanding general, Lt. Gen. James M. Dubik, has been tabbed to take over the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq. The post is subject to confirmation in the Senate but no opposition is expected.

Dubik, 56, has led the local post and I Corps since November 2004. Now he’s moving to the war zone – his first combat assignment – as part of the new U.S. military leadership team headed by Lt. Gen. David Petraeus. Dubik’s job will be to direct the training of Iraqi military and police forces.

Seeking comment from the general. The move has apparently

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An Army judge on Tuesday dealt Lt. Ehren Watada setbacks on two fronts as his Feb. 5 court-martial nears at Fort Lewis.

In one ruling — Watada Ruling Art 133.pdf — Lt. Col. John Head turned down Watada’s motion to dismiss four of five charges on free-speech grounds.

In a second — Watada Ruling Lawfulness of Order.pdf — Head ruled that Watada cannot defend himself against a charge of missing movement by citing his motive — that is, his belief that the Iraq war is illegal.

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Roger Bascom and Scott Connely, two civilian employees from Fort Lewis who were wounded in the Dec. 21, 2004 chow hall bombing in Mosul, will finally get their Defense of Freedom Medals in a ceremony Tuesday afternoon at the post.

Fort Lewis said Brig. Gen. Nickolas G. Justice, the deputy program executive officer for command, control and communications from Fort Monmouth, N.J., will do the pinning.

The Defense of Freedom Medal, similar to a Purple Heart, honors Department of Defense civilians who are killed or wounded in the line of duty.

Bascom and Connely were in Iraq

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McChord Air Force Base will welcome back more than 60 airmen from the 62nd Aerial Port Squadron who’ve been working the past four months in Iraq. Some returned last week, about 40 are due home Tuesday with the rest to follow later in the week, McChord said in a news release.

A welcome-home ceremony is scheduled for 3 p.m. Tuesday.

The base said the aerial porters moved more than 114,000 passengers and 18,434 tons of cargo on more than 1,200 flights.

We ran the Washington Post story today (longer, original version here) from their ridealong with troops from the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment in Baghdad, in which the soldiers express none-too-subtly their misgivings about the Iraqi jundi they’re working with.

We have previously reported (here and here, for example) that the Iraqi security forces in Baghdad are a far cry from the ones in Mosul.

Today’s story was the third in the last couple weeks featuring Fort Lewis Stryker troops frankly expressing their concerns about prospects for “the surge” and security in the Iraqi

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The brigade will leave for Iraq in April instead of May, and will skip its National Training Center Rotation. That’d make the Raiders the first of the five Stryker brigades to go to Iraq to do so without the benefit of time in the box at NTC or at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, La.

&bull Fort Lewis’ 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division – the very first Stryker brigade in the Army – went to NTC and JRTC before it deployed to Iraq in November 2003. Stands to reason, it being the first, that it would really want

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Bob Burns and Lolita Baldor of the Associated Press this afternoon are reporting the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division will be among the units to leave for Iraq ahead of schedule as part of President Bush’s “surge.”

The AP writers attributed the information to “a military official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information had not been publicly released.”

According to the military official, who provided no dates,

—The 1st Brigade, 34th Infantry Division, Minnesota Army National Guard, will stay longer than planned in Iraq;

—The 4th Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, based at Fort

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U.S. Sen. Patty Murray on Wednesday announced she’s got a new seat on the defense appropriations subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee. That’s in addition to the seat she already has on the military construction and veterans affairs subcommittee.

The move certainly won’t do anything to diminish the flow of federal dollars into the Army, Navy and Air Force installations across the state.