bush administration

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'Iraq's Looking Good,' Cheney Tells U.S. Troops

Vice President Dick Cheney paid a surprise visit to Iraq on Sunday, declaring that the United States had "turned the corner" in efforts to pacify the country. His stopover came as insurgents renewed their attacks after a lull for last week's election and freed a kidnapped German archeologist.

Report: Bush Had More Prewar Intelligence Than Congress

A congressional report made public yesterday concluded that President Bush and his inner circle had access to more intelligence and reviewed more sensitive material than what was shared with Congress when it gave Bush the authority to wage war against Iraq.

Bush acknowledges about 30,000 Iraqis have died

"How many Iraqi citizens have died in this war? I would say 30,000, more or less, have died as a result of the initial incursion and the ongoing violence against Iraqis," Mr Bush said in response to a question after a speech on Iraq.

President's Accounts of Gains Depict Only Part of the Picture

President Bush on Wednesday cited a teaching hospital in Najaf as perhaps the top example of a successful rebuilding project in Iraq. Since the American-led attack against local militias leveled large portions of Najaf in August 2004, however, the hospital has been most notable as a place where claims of success have fallen far short of reality. During two visits to the hospital by reporters for The New York Times over the past year, the most recent in late summer, work on refurbishing it had been limited to largely cosmetic work like new ceilings and lighting and fresh paint. Critical medical equipment was missing and the upper floors remained a chaotic mess.

In Cities Bush Cited, Progress Is Relative

In a tale of two cities, President Bush yesterday heralded progress in northern Mosul and southern Najaf as new models for rebuilding Iraq. But last Friday, Iraq's government imposed emergency law and a curfew in Sunni-dominated Mosul and throughout Ninevah province, and a senior U.S. official in Baghdad yesterday referred to the city of about 1.7 million as "nasty Mosul."

Cruel treatment banned everywhere, Rice says, signaling policy shift

In what appears to be a major shift in U.S. policy on detainees, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday that U.S. forces operating overseas are prohibited from mistreating suspected terrorists.

Rice Fails to Clarify U.S. View on Torture

Rice's latest comments left much unclear. She did not try to define banned prisoner interrogation measures or specify what, in the American view, constitutes cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment. She also did not address restrictions imposed by the torture convention on U.S. security contractors.

Rumsfeld warns of Islamic superstate if U.S. leaves Iraq too soon

If U.S. forces leave too soon, Iraq will become a haven for terrorists and the base of a spreading Islamic superstate that would threaten the rest of the world, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld said Monday.

Rumsfeld Offers Optimistic View of Iraq

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Monday the American public should be optimistic about the situation in Iraq, and not judge progress based on the death toll alone. [...] "A lie moves around the world at the speed of light," he said, stressing there is a "jarring contrast between what the American people are reading and hearing about Iraq and the views of the Iraqi people."

WEDNESDAY FUNNIES #2: Rumsfeld Hasn't Hit a Dead End in Forging Terms for Foe in Iraq

The Pentagon's long struggle over how to describe the war in Iraq moved to new ground Tuesday as Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said he wanted to retire the term "insurgents" in favor of "enemies of the legitimate Iraqi government." Rumsfeld, who has previously described the foe as "deadenders," "former regime elements" and in other terms, told a Pentagon news conference that the insurgent label lent the enemy "more legitimacy than they seem to merit." Iraqis now have a constitutional government that offers them legitimate means of political expression, and the foe lacks broad popular support, Rumsfeld argued.

Ex-Powell aide: Bush 'too aloof' on post-war Iraq plans

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief of staff says President Bush was "too aloof, too distant from the details" of post-war planning, allowing underlings to exploit Bush's detachment and make bad decisions.

Cheney accused on prisoner abuse

A top aide to former Secretary of State Colin Powell has launched a stinging attack on US Vice-President Dick Cheney over abuse of prisoners by US troops.

Al-Jazeera consults lawyers over Bush memo

Arab news channel al-Jazeera is to consult its lawyers in an attempt to pursue George Bush through the courts over the US president's alleged threat to bomb the broadcaster's headquarters.

US reveals blueprint for Iraq pullout

The White House has announced its plans to withdraw from Iraq, saying that a blueprint advocated last week by a Democratic senator was "remarkably similar" to its own.

How U.S. Fell Under the Spell of 'Curveball'

The German intelligence officials responsible for one of the most important informants on Saddam Hussein's suspected weapons of mass destruction say that the Bush administration and the CIA repeatedly exaggerated his claims during the run-up to the war in Iraq.

In challenging war's critics, administration tinkers with truth

Cheney's rough-edged remarks, and the president's unequivocal endorsement of them, were the latest in the Bush administration's new campaign to challenge critics of how it sold the war, accusing them of twisting the historical record about how and why the war was launched. Yet in accusing Iraq-war critics of "rewriting history," Bush, Cheney and other senior administration officials are tinkering with the truth themselves.

Bush administration's torture policy increasingly under fire

With Vice President Dick Cheney in the lead, the White House has fought a vigorous campaign - much of it behind the scenes - to reject limits on how to treat prisoners who might have information on terrorist plots. But a growing number of lawmakers, both moderate Republicans and Democrats, argue that abuse of prisoners is immoral, has devastated the United States' image and ability to project its values overseas, and would endanger captured American soldiers or civilians.

Blair Failed In Dealing With Bush, Book Says

Prime Minister Tony Blair was so "seduced" by the "proximity and glamour of American power" that he failed to use his leverage with President Bush to slow the rush to war with Iraq, Britain's former ambassador to the United States has written in a new book.

Report Warned Bush Team About Intelligence Doubts

A top member of Al Qaeda in American custody was identified as a likely fabricator months before the Bush administration began to use his statements as the foundation for its claims that Iraq trained Al Qaeda members to use biological and chemical weapons, according to newly declassified portions of a Defense Intelligence Agency document.

Cheney Fights for Detainee Policy

Over the past year, Vice President Cheney has waged an intense and largely unpublicized campaign to stop Congress, the Pentagon and the State Department from imposing more restrictive rules on the handling of terrorist suspects, according to defense, state, intelligence and congressional officials.

Policies on Terrorism Suspects Come Under Fire

The Bush administration's policies for holding and detaining suspected terrorists came under sharp scrutiny and criticism yesterday after disclosure that the CIA had set up covert prisons in several Eastern European democracies and other countries.

Despite Warnings, U.S. Leans on Syria

The Bush administration has embarked on an effort to build strong international pressure on Syria despite warnings from some Arab lead

CIA leak illustrates selective use of intelligence on Iraq

The grand jury probe into the leak of a covert CIA officer's name has opened a new window into how the Bush administration used intelligence from dubious sources to make a case for a pre-emptive war and discarded information that undercut its rationale for attacking Iraq. [...] A Knight Ridder review of the administration's arguments, its own reporting at the time and the Senate Intelligence Committee's 2004 report shows that the White House followed a pattern of using questionable intelligence, even documents that turned out to be forgeries, to support its case - often leaking classified information to receptive journalists - and dismissing information that undermined the case for war.

Majority of Americans Say Military Action in Iraq Was Wrong, Poll Finds

For the first time, a majority of Americans (53%) feels that military action in Iraq was the wrong thing to do, according to the survey of 1,833 U.S. adults, compared with 34% who feel it was right.

Cheney Told Aide of C.I.A. Officer, Lawyers Report

Notes of a previously undisclosed conversation between the vice president and his chief of staff appear to differ from I. Lewis Libby's federal grand jury testimony.

CIA Leak Linked to Dispute Over Iraq Policy

As the investigation into the leak reaches its expected climax this week with the expiration of the grand jury's term, the internal disputes have been further amplified by a recent string of speeches and interviews criticizing the administration's handling of Iraq, including by former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, the former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and State Department diplomats, and other officials involved in the early efforts to stabilize Iraq.

White House Seeks Exception in Abuse Ban

Stepping up a confrontation with the Senate over the handling of detainees, the White House is insisting that the Central Intelligence Agency be exempted from a proposed ban on abusive treatment of suspected Qaeda militants and other terrorists.

'Cheney cabal hijacked US foreign policy'

Vice-President Dick Cheney and a handful of others had hijacked the government's foreign policy apparatus, deciding in secret to carry out policies that had left the US weaker and more isolated in the world, the top aide to former Secretary of State Colin Powell claimed on Wednesday.

Rice short on detail on exit strategy for Iraq

Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, on Wednesday laid out what she called the US strategy for preparing “a permanent Iraqi government for decisive victory” but rebuffed senators who asked how long this might take and when US troops would start to come home.

CIA leak: Bush-Rove details sought

Democrats asked the White House on Wednesday for details of President George W. Bush's private conversations in 2003 with top political adviser Karl Rove after conflicting reports about whether Bush was aware of any role by Rove in the outing of a covert CIA operative.