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NEWS ABOUT: Bush administration

Stories 81 - 100 | << Prev   Next >>

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... More »

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... More »

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... More »

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... More »

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... More »

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... More »

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... More »

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... More »

Gonzales Changes Tune on 'Legitimate' CIA Probe

Ex-AG compares torture to speeding (really)

(Newser) - Alberto Gonzales did not mean to endorse Eric Holder’s probe of alleged CIA torture during the Bush administration by calling it “legitimate,” the former AG tells the Washington Times, which broke the story. “I don't support the investigation by the department because this is a matter... More »

Gonzales: Holder's CIA Probe 'Legitimate'

(Newser) - Bush Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is on the same page as Eric Holder when it comes to investigating allegations of CIA torture. “As chief prosecutor of the United States, he should make the decision on his own, based on the facts,” he tells the Washington Times. Gonzales, who's... More »

Holder to Crank Up Civil Rights Enforcement

Holder restoring Civil Rights Division to pre-Bush status

(Newser) - The Obama administration plans to revitalize the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and beef up efforts against racial discrimination, the New York Times reports. Attorney General Eric Holder has been working to redirect the focus to tackling discrimination in high-impact areas like housing, voting rights, employment, and bank lending, where... More »

Ridge Takes Back Threat Level Claim in His Book

Retreats on earlier suggestion that politics played a role

(Newser) - Former Homeland Security secretary Tom Ridge says the Bush administration “never pressured” him to raise the US terror threat level, backing down on a claim made in his book, USA Today reports. In the book, Ridge writes that John Ashcroft and Donald Rumsfeld pushed him to elevate it before... More »

Obama's Approval Rating Sinks to 50%

(Newser) - President Obama's job-approval rating slipped to 50% in Gallup poll results out today, a new low for the 10-month-old administration, the Los Angeles Times reports. The drawn-out health care reform debate apparently is dragging down the number, which hit 69% after the inauguration. The disapproval number is 43%. "It's... More »

CIA Manipulated Every Detail of Interrogation Sessions

Top-level approval of interrogation techniques could complicate Justice probe

(Newser) - As the CIA discloses internal reports concerning “enhanced” interrogation techniques on detainees at secret prisons, the ugliest details—threats of execution and harm with a power drill—have grabbed headlines. But the documents also reveal an intriguing level of control that the CIA and Department of Justice maintained over... More »

Holder Launches Probe Into CIA Torture Allegations

(Newser) - AG Eric Holder today named a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of torture against CIA operatives who interrogated terror suspects during the Bush administration, the Washington Post reports. John Durham, who is currently probing the destruction of interrogation tapes, will look into fewer than 12 cases detailed in a CIA... More »

Mock Executions Among CIA Torture Tactics

(Newser) - A report long suppressed by Bush administration officials set to be released next week says the CIA used mock executions as part of post-9/11 interrogations, Newsweek reports—though federal law prohibits threatening prisoners with “imminent death,” and the practice wasn’t authorized by the Justice Department, unlike other... More »

Bush Officials Deny Ridge Terror Claim

(Newser) - Members of President Bush’s administration today denied accusations by former Homeland Security secretary Tom Ridge in an upcoming book that the White House pressed him to raise the terror threat level ahead of the 2004 election. Former White House chief of staff Andrew Card and former homeland security adviser... More »

Ridge: Bush Wanted Terror Threat Raised for Election

Ridge tell-all dangles shocking revelation

(Newser) - The publisher of Tom Ridge's forthcoming book has dropped a potential bombshell: It says the Bush White House pressured the Homeland Security chief to arbitrarily raise the terror threat alert level on the eve of the 2004 election, ostensibly to boost its chances, reports US News and World Report. Ridge... More »

Cheney Turns on 'Soft' Bush as Memoir Takes Shape

(Newser) - Dick Cheney has decided the "statute of limitations" has expired on some secrets from the Bush era, associates tell the Washington Post. Discussing his memoir-in-progress, the former vice president has made it plain that he felt President Bush was getting soft in his second term, and moved away from... More »

Rove Pushed for Firing of US Attorney in NM

(Newser) - The House Judiciary Committee released documents today that Democrats say put Karl Rove and former Bush counsel Harriet Miers at the center of the US attorney firing scandal, Politico reports. “Karl Rove and his cohorts at the Bush White House were the driving force behind several of these firings,... More »

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