Cheney Still Hasn't Learned From Iraq

Woodward has seen all the mistakes and lived to tell about it

(NEWSER) - George W. Bush’s presidency could teach Barack Obama many lessons—about what not to do. Bob Woodward lays out 10 of them in today’s Washington Post:

• "Presidents need to draw people out and make sure bad news makes it to the Oval Office": Bush went into Iraq "without directly asking Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld, or George Tenet for their bottom-line recommendation."
• "A president must do the homework to master the fundamental ideas and concepts behind his policies": One general suspected Bush "lacked a basic grasp of what the Iraq war was about."

VP gave go ahead for 'remarkably successful' tactic

(NEWSER) - Vice President Dick Cheney personally approved using waterboarding to interrogate 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, he reveals in a wide-ranging interview on ABC News. "I was involved in helping get the process cleared. The agency came in and wanted to know what they could and couldn't do," said Cheney, referring to waterboarding and other controversial interrogation techniques. "They talked to me to explain what they wanted to do. And I supported it." More»

Design similar to North Korean nuke technology

(NEWSER) - Video showing a nuclear reactor under construction in Syria is expected to be released today by the White House, the New York Times reports. The video, shot before the reactor was obliterated by Israeli air strikes, confirms that Syrians had North Korean technological help. The design is similar to one used by North Korea to create weapons-grade plutonium. More»

Partly-built facility based on North Korean model

(NEWSER) - Israel's air strike on Syria last month was aimed at a nuclear reactor, US and Israeli intelligence analysts say. The partly-built facility was based on a North Korean model—a link that could harm Pyonyang's new denuclearization deal if Israel can prove that Kim Jong Il helped mount the reactor. US and world officials were mum about the origins of Syria's technology, the New York Times reports. More»

Material going through China: UN report

(NEWSER) - UN officials fear North Korea may be involved in arms deals with Syria and Burma. Pyongyang "continues actively to defy" UN sanctions, says an unpublished panel report viewed by Reuters that cites "illicit sales of arms and related materiel and luxury goods." According to the report, in 2010 France discovered a shipment of supplies used for artillery and rockets headed to Syria from North Korea; in 2007, material usable in ballistic missiles was sent from North Korea through China, bound for Syria. More»