Bush: 4,000 US Lives 'Were Not Lost in Vain'

Tenet's new book says "there was never serious debate" about going to war in Iraq

(NEWSER) - George Tenet offers a scathing attack on Dick Cheney and other architects of the war in Iraq in a new book to be released Monday, the New York Times reports. The former CIA director alleges that "there was never serious debate" about whether Iraq was an imminent threat to the U.S., or discussion of containing Saddam without invading. More»

Iraqi crackdown, US strikes helped

(NEWSER) - As the US approaches its end-of-year deadline for withdrawing all troops from Iraq, August saw a milestone: It was the first month since the US-led invasion began in March 2003 that saw no American military deaths. The previous record was one soldier death in December 2010, and a military spokesperson notes that there have been two other months that saw no hostile deaths—but did see at least one non-combat death, “which includes accidents or illness,” she tells AFP . Since the invasion began, 4,474 American troops have died. More»

(NEWSER) - President Bush seriously considered deploying the military to arrest terror suspects in a Buffalo suburb in 2002, former Bush administration officials tell the New York Times. Dick Cheney was in favor of the almost unprecedented deployment of troops on American soil, the officials say, while Condoleezza Rice and others were opposed. Bush ultimately decided to use the FBI to arrest the "Lackawanna Six." More»

(NEWSER) - The Bush administration ran a secret team authorized to assassinate foreign targets without being accountable to Congress, says New Yorker reporter Seymour Hersh. On CNN's Situation Room, he said the hit squad could go "into a country without telling the CIA station chief or the ambassador and whack someone. I am sorry, Wolf, yes I have a problem with that." Hersh claimed the unit reported directly to Dick Cheney. More»

From rejecting the Kyoto Protocol to the surge

(NEWSER) - Forget what you’ve heard about W’s presidency, writes Fred Barnes in the Weekly Standard. His decisive courage gave his term many successes:

• Rejecting the Kyoto Protocol: The treaty was broken—it exempted India and China from carbon emissions responsibility—but only Bush had the courage to say so.
• Enhanced interrogation of terrorists: The crucial intelligence gained by waterboarding al-Qaeda leaders like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed saved lives.