Bush administration

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No Clear Way for US to Prosecute Gitmo Prisoners
No Clear Way for US to Prosecute Gitmo Prisoners
ANALYSIS
Oct 29, 2009 11:11 PM CDT

No Clear Way for US to Prosecute Gitmo Prisoners

Experts split on whether to use federal courts or military commissions

(Newser) - President Obama is edging closer to his goal of closing the Guantanamo Bay prison: Congress has approved detainee trials on US soil and the National Defense Authorization Act, passed yesterday, attempts to repair the damaged legality of President Bush’s military-commissions system. But hurdles remain, with legal scholars split on...

Where Bush Was Bashed, Obama Gets Free Pass

GOP faithful can't fathom why press goes so easy on new president

(Newser) - Supporters of George Bush are miffed about the passes the media has given President Obama for trespasses the former president would likely have been excoriated for. “We have a joke about it. We’re going to start a website: IfBushHadDoneThat.com,” former Bush counselor Ed Gillespie tells Politico....

B+ for Obama Foreign Policy, F for Not Owning It
B+ for Obama Foreign Policy, F for Not Owning It
JUAN COLE
Oct 27, 2009 11:17 AM CDT

B+ for Obama Foreign Policy, F for Not Owning It

New prez is doing fine in Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, but no one notices

(Newser) - Despite the howls of protest over President Obama's Nobel Prize and the administration’s "dithering" on Afghanistan, the fact is that the new president’s foreign endeavors deserve good marks, says Juan Cole. Cole gives Obama an A for his Iranian statesmanship, a B for pulling out of Iraq...

It's Not Bush's Mess Anymore
 It's Not Bush's Mess Anymore 
PEGGY NOONAN
Oct 23, 2009 5:47 AM CDT

It's Not Bush's Mess Anymore

Obama needs to stop complaining about what he inherited, start fixing it

(Newser) - President Obama needs to stop complaining that he inherited a mess and realize that the mess is now all his, writes Peggy Noonan. The White House is once again reminding people what dire straits the country was in when Obama's presidency began, but—as the president's free-falling poll numbers prove—...

Stars Demand Bush 'Music Torture' Files

Time for torturers to face the music, say celebs

(Newser) - A coalition of celebrity musicians is demanding the release of Bush administration documents revealing how music was used to torture Guantanamo Bay inmates. Songs from Metallica, The Real Slim Shady, and the Star Spangled Banner, among many others, were blasted all day for days on end to rattle prisoners, inmates...

Obama Vows Not to Repeat Katrina Mistakes

He makes his first visit as president to New Orleans

(Newser) - President Obama promised not to repeat the mistakes the Bush administration made responding to Hurricane Katrina. Speaking to residents of New Orleans' lower 9th ward, Obama said the Katrina disaster was caused not just by “nature, but by a failure of government." By improving communication among state, local,...

Flood of Bush Memoirs May Trip Up GOP

Six administration figures to release books before midterm elections

(Newser) - The 2010 elections offer Republicans the first chance in a long time to run without the handicap of the unpopular Bush administration. Or not. Bush may be out of office, but the period between now and next November could see the release of five Bush-era memoirs—from Hank Paulson, Laura...

CIA Knew of 'Secret' Iran Facility: Panetta

Once agency was certain this spring, Obama kept info as leverage for talks

(Newser) - The CIA knew about Iran's recently revealed uranium-enrichment facility and had been collecting intelligence on it since 2006. The US, the UK, and France had been on the lookout for a new secret plant since the 2002 revelation of the Natanz facility. When intelligence and covert operations uncovered a new...

Schwarzenegger Latest in GOP to Back Reform

Calls for health bill this year in opposition to congressional GOP's wish for do-over

(Newser) - Arnold Schwarzenegger today became the highest-ranking elected Republican to back President Obama's push for health care reform. California's governor urged lawmakers "on both sides of the political aisle at the national level to move forward." He spoke after New York City's Mike Bloomberg, a Republican-turned-independent, also endorsed reform....

On Terror Case, Rare Silence From Obama
On Terror Case, Rare Silence From Obama
ANALYSIS
Sep 29, 2009 7:30 PM CDT

On Terror Case, Rare Silence From Obama

Also a reversal of Bush attempts to 'conflate' threat to US: Ambinder

(Newser) - The absence of a statement from the Obama administration on the arrest of terror suspect Najibullah Zazi is quite a contrast from a president Americans have gotten used to seeing just about every time they turn on the TV—and from the treatment such incidents received during the Bush administration,...

Media Lose Interest in War Dead: Only AP Shoots Coffins

Photo ban lifted, but photographers aren't bothering

(Newser) - Back when George W. Bush was president, the media made a big fuss about the administration’s refusal to allow the press to photograph soldiers’ coffins, saying it hid the true cost of the war. President Obama lifted the ban in April, and the media flocked to snap shots of...

Obama to Tighten Bush's Iran Sanctions

White House will apply pressure unilaterally on world trading

(Newser) - The Obama administration’s plan to sanction Iran looks a lot like that of his predecessor. Officials say that if nuclear talks with Iran fail, they will likely tighten enforcement of Bush sanctions rather than impose new ones, the Washington Post reports. Obama has even retained the top architect of...

Obama Raises Bar on What Passes for State Secrets

AG must personally approve all requests to keep programs veiled

(Newser) - The Obama administration will announce much more stringent rules on state secrets today, two Justice Department officials tell the Washington Post, in what amounts to a major shift from Bush-era practice. To keep a program secret, an organization—including intelligence agencies and the military—will have to convince the attorney...

Pragmatic Style Makes Gates White House Heavyweight

Defense secretary helps dismantle missile shield program he backed under Bush

(Newser) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates has bridged the gap between the Bush and Obama administrations and become a major player in reshaping national security policy in the process, officials tell the New York Times. His pragmatic style—as seen in his decision to ditch the missile defense system he signed off...

Obama's New Missile Plan Offers Better Defense: Gates

Strategy deploys more missiles 6 years earlier than under Bush plan

(Newser) - The Obama administration is upgrading missile defense plans in Europe, not abandoning them, writes Robert Gates, the author of the Bush-era plans recently scrapped, in a New York Times op-ed. The previous plan would not have installed the proposed 10 long-range interceptors in Central Europe until at least 2017, while...

Young Grow Poorer While Old Get Richer

Recession socks Americans born after 1955

(Newser) - Young and middle-aged people, particularly men, saw their incomes plummet from 2000 to 2008, leaving many age groups at 30-year nadirs, new Census data show. The recession has exacerbated the problem, widening the gap between young and old at an unprecedented rate, USA Today reports. Worst hit were those in...

Working Class Picks Wrong Villains
 Working Class Picks 
 Wrong Villains 
OPINION
Sep 17, 2009 11:25 AM CDT

Working Class Picks Wrong Villains

(Newser) - When the tea party protesters converged on Washington, one leader, radio demagogue Mark Williams, repeatedly described them as “working stiffs” who felt left out. It’s no wonder they’re angry, writes Timothy Egan for the New York Times, because it’s been a lost decade for “working...

Bush Cabinet Member in Criminal Inquiry

Interior secretary gave Shell big contracts, then took job with firm

(Newser) - The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into whether Gale Norton illegally used her power as secretary of the Interior to obtain three oil contracts for Royal Dutch Shell—which only months later hired her as a legal counsel. The 2006 decision to award Shell leases on oil-rich federal...

Universal Health Care: We Already Gave it to Iraq

Constitution America fought to give Iraq guarantees its citizens health care

(Newser) - Many US lawmakers opposing health care reform need to be asked why it's OK for Iraqis but not Americans, Mark Dorlester writes for the Huffington Post. Article 31 of the Iraqi Constitution—made possible by the war, and hailed as a victory by the Bush administration—guarantees every Iraqi state-funded...

Obama to Open White House Visitor Logs

Aims to boost transparency, resolve watchdog lawsuits

(Newser) - The Obama administration has agreed to release the normally private list of visitors to the White House, as a move to increase transparency, and resolve four lawsuits against both it and the previous administration from a watchdog group. “We will achieve our goal of making this administration the most...

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