Bush administration news stories on Newser

Why Mitt Should Avoid Condi as VP

Kevin Spak — Tue, 01 May 2012 13:59:05 CDT

Did you like the Bush administration? No? Then why the heck would you want Condoleezza Rice to be Mitt Romney's running mate, asks Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal . A recent poll had Rice as Republican voters' top choice for the ticket, and it's easy to see why. "He's...

Karl Rove: I Didn't Want Dick Cheney

Kevin Spak — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 12:46:05 CDT

From now until August, pundits will be speculating about Mitt Romney's VP choice, and poring over the political benefits of each candidate. Karl Rove thinks Romney should ignore all of that and choose, as George W. Bush did, the "best partner in the White House and a person the country...

Bush's CIA Chief: We Ruled Out Iran Strike

Dustin Lushing — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:32:20 CST

George W. Bush's administration pondered an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities and ultimately rejected it, says former CIA and NSA chief Gen. Michael Hayden. He and others concluded that an attack on Iran's nuke factories "would guarantee that which we are trying to prevent—an Iran that will spare nothing...

Condi Rice Disses Cheney 'Cheap Shots': I Never Cried

Polly Davis Doig — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 07:37:17 CDT

Add Condoleezza Rice to the list of people torqued by Dick Cheney's opus: The former secretary of state is taking umbrage to Cheney's assertion that she "tearfully admitted I had been right" that the administration shouldn't apologize over a claim in George W Bush's 2003 State of the Union. "It...

Powell Aide: Cheney Fears War Crime Trial

Rob Quinn — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 07:00:00 CDT

It doesn't look as if the Colin Powell-Dick Cheney feud is going to end any time soon. Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, Powell's longtime chief of staff, says that Cheney—whose new memoir is sharply critical of Powell—"fears being tried as a war criminal" and "was president for all practical purposes...

What We've Learned From Robert Gates

Matt Cantor — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 07:20:12 CDT

With Robert Gates, who has served eight presidents over four decades, about to retire, the Washington Post looks back at how Gates operated in the Pentagon. He’s been “careful, conservative, and consensus-oriented,” writes Greg Jaffe, and he’s “earned a reputation as the most ruthlessly efficient defense secretary in decades.” So...

Happy Birthday, Bush Tax Cuts: You're a Total Failure

Kevin Spak — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 13:30:55 CDT

This week marks the 10th anniversary of the Bush tax cuts, and Annie Lowrey of Slate is looking for reasons to celebrate. Unfortunately, she can’t find any. They’re “a failure in every conceivable way,” she writes. In 2001, Bush promised the cuts would create jobs, generate wealth, and “starve the...

Rumsfeld: We Woulda Hit bin Laden Same Way

Polly Davis Doig — Sat, 21 May 2011 10:41:37 CDT

Add Donald Rumsfeld to the list of Republicans heaping praise for Osama bin Laden's killing on anyone but the Obama administration: "The capabilities to do it were developed over time by previous administrations, and they benefit the country, and the intelligence had been gathered over a long period of time,...

US Saw Chance at bin Laden in 2007

Matt Cantor — Fri, 06 May 2011 09:52:11 CDT

Four years ago, the US believed it had a chance to capture or kill Osama bin Laden: Militants would be gathering in the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan for suicide attack training, and there were whispers that bin Laden would attend. A secret raid on the site resulted in the...