Rice Regrets Bad Iraq Intel, But Not Invasion

In memoir, Bush aide regrets not defending war to public harder

(AP) - Karl Rove says in a new memoir that the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq badly damaged the Bush administration's credibility and led to dwindling public support for the war. The former White House political adviser blames himself for not pushing back against claims that President Bush had taken the country to war under false pretenses, calling it one of the worst mistakes he made. The president, he adds, did not knowingly mislead the American public about the existence of such weapons. More»

At the time, existence of WMDs in Iraq was 'beyond doubt'

(NEWSER) - Tony Blair mounted a spirited defense of Britain’s involvement in the Iraq war today, telling the Chilcot inquiry he would make the same choices now, based on the information he had then. “The crucial thing after Sept. 11 is that the calculus of risk changed,” the former prime minister told the panel, and he deemed the risk of an Iraqi WMD too terrible to ignore. “Could we take the risk of this man reconstituting his weapons program?” More»

Bush put US on path to banana republic status

(NEWSER) - The 2000s were dominated by George W. Bush and the new American oligarchy he represents, writes Juan Cole. He lists hit 10 lowest points of an awful decade:

• “The constitutional coup of 2000,” in which “ugly racial and other low tricks” and a “far right-wing Supreme Court” delivered the election to the worst president in history.

Dem-led committee blasts administration; Republicans dismiss 'partisan exercise'

(NEWSER) - The Bush administration distorted facts in justifying the invasion of Iraq and overstated Saddam Hussein’s links to al-Qaeda, a long-delayed report from the Senate intelligence committee concludes. Bush and his advisers also ignored doubts about Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction in constructing their case for military action, Reuters reports. More»

Rove says he should have told president to fight

(NEWSER) - When Democrats accused George W. Bush of falsifying evidence to start the war in Iraq, Karl Rove advised him not to re-litigate the past—and now he thinks it was his biggest mistake in the White House. The Democrats’ assault “was a monument to hypocrisy and cynicism,” Rove writes in today’s Wall Street Journal , and though it didn’t win them the White House in 2004, it did lasting damage to him. More»