NewsTrust - Bush Legacy - Most Recent Stories: News (Mainstream)

Obama administration seeks to block wiretap suit

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Associated Press - By Devlin Barrett - Oct. 31 (News Report) - The Justice Department invoked the state secrets privilege Friday to try to stop a lawsuit over Bush-era wiretapping -- the first time the Obama administration has done so under its new policy on such cases. Attorney General Eric Holder announced the decision in a California lawsuit challenging the warrantless wiretapping program begun after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

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In Adopting Harsh Tactics, No Inquiry Into Their Past Use

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Scott Shane, Mark Mazzetti - Apr. 22 (Special Report) - The top officials he briefed did not learn that waterboarding had been prosecuted by the United States in war-crimes trials after World War II and was a well-documented favorite of despotic governments since the Spanish Inquisition; one waterboard used under Pol Pot was even on display at the genocide museum in Cambodia.

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Bush Adm. Weighed Restricting 1st Amendment

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Newsweek - By Michael Isikoff - Mar. 04 (News Report) - In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the Justice Department secretly gave the green light for the U.S. military to attack apartment buildings and office complexes inside the United States, deploy high-tech surveillance against U.S. citizens and potentially suspend First Amendment freedom-of-the-press rights in order to combat the terror threat, according to a memo released Monday.

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Bipartisanship Is All but Dead

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Newsweek - By Jonathan Alter - Feb. 18 (News Analysis) - Say sayonara to "kumbaya." Bipartisanship is all but dead in Washington. President Obama cut a deal to win passage of his necessary—if not sufficient—stimulus bill with the last three moderate Republicans in Congress. But his effort to put a true conservative, Judd Gregg, in his cabinet turned out to be a bridge too far. While Obama wins points for coming across as a gracious and accommodating leader, his dream of a less polarized politics has been deferred—at least until he builds a new mass movement of independent voters with the help of the Terminator. Before I explain what California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has to do with the detoxification of Washington, let's briefly review how the purple dream went bust. After the economy tanked last fall, every sentient economist, including the top economic advisers to Ronald Reagan and John McCain, knew that we needed a large stimulus to avoid a depression. It looked like the new president would get at least a handful of GOP members of the House and as many as 20 Senate Republicans.

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Don't miss a credit card payment, or the APR could soar - Los Angeles Times

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Los Angeles Times - By David Lazarus - Feb. 18 (Investigative Report) - Even in the best of times, carrying a balance on your credit card is a risky -- and costly -- proposition. These days, it can be downright foolish, at least if there's a chance you might miss a payment or two. Millions of cardholders have recently received letters from the likes of Citibank, Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. and American Express Co. notifying them that their interest rates are going up, in some cases to 30% if a single payment is missed. JPMorgan Chase & Co., the nation's largest issuer of plastic, has begun charging hundreds of thousands of cardholders a $10 monthly fee for having carried large balances for more than a couple years. Why? In part it's because default rates are rising and banks are dealing with additional risk. But lawmakers and consumer advocates say the higher rates also reflect banks' massive losses from betting wrong on the housing boom, and they're basically sticking credit card customers

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Iraq sells its uranium to Canadian company

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Agence France-Presse - By Staff Report - Feb. 17 (News Report) - Iraq has sold its 550 tonnes of uranium concentrate or "yellow cake", built up by former dictator Saddam Hussein, to Cameco of Canada for 90 million dollars, the government said on Tuesday.

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Bush White House Cast Assails Obama

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By Dan Eggen - Feb. 06 (News Report) - But Ex-President Has Held His Tongue Richard B. Cheney says President Obama's policies will make it easier for terrorists to kill Americans. Alberto R. Gonzales says the new attorney general could be undermining the morale of U.S. intelligence officials.

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Fannie Mae's Last Stand

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Vanity Fair - By Bethany McLean - Jan. 31 (Investigative Report) - Many believe the government-backed mortgage giants known as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were major culprits in the economic meltdown. But, for decades, Fannie Mae had been under siege from powerful enemies, who resented its privileged status, its hard-driving C.E.O.’s, and its huge profits. Surveying Fannie’s deeply dysfunctional relationships with Congress, the White House, and Wall Street, the author tells of the long, vicious war—involving most of Washington’s top players—that helped propel one of the world’s most successful companies off a cliff.

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FBI saw mortgage fraud early

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Seattle Post Intelligencer - By Paul Shukovsky - Jan. 28 (Special Report) - "We knew that the mortgage-brokerage industry was corrupt," the first of the retired FBI officials told the Seattle P-I. "Where we would have gotten a sense of what was really going on was the point where the mortgage was sold knowing that it was a piece of dung and it would be turned into a security. But the agents with the expertise had been diverted to counterterrorism."

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Picking Up the Pieces

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By Dan Froomkin - Jan. 21 (News Analysis) - What a difference a day makes. Yesterday's inauguration of President Obama represented an epochal shift for this country, from a conservative leader to a liberal, from one generation to another, from a child of privilege to someone entirely self-made, and ever so poignantly, from a white man to a black man. It also marked the purging of one cultural icon and the rise of another. George Bush leaves office as a symbol to many people of everything that's wrong with America, while Barack Obama enters the White House as a symbol to many of what's right. Obama, for his part, pulled no punches in his Inaugural Address, casting his presidency as a restorative to Bush's. "Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America," Obama said. Though he did not blame the smallness of our politics solely on his immediate predecessor, the message was clear: To Obama, the central meaning of the day was that it represented the long overdue end of an era to which Bush was the capstone. "On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord," Obama said. "What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility. . . .

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Editorials worldwide pillory Bush one final time

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Reuters - By Erik Kirschbaum - Jan. 19 (News Analysis) - Editorial writers around the world have been taking their final printed whacks at George W. Bush, accusing the president of tarnishing America's standing with what many saw as arrogant and incompetent leadership.

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Judge Orders Search of Bush Administration E-Mails

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By R. Jeffrey Smith - Jan. 14 (News Report) - The order reflects a continuing effort by outside groups to ensure that the White House transfers historically significant materials to the National Archives on or before next Tuesday, as required by federal law. District Court Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. demanded that officials search computer workstations, preserve thumb drives and examine e-mail archives created or retained by White House employees from 2003 to 2005, the period in which a records gap exists.

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Second-term climbdowns might salvage scraps for Bush legacy

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Daily Star (Lebanon) - By Jim Lobe - Jan. 14 (News Analysis) - During a farewell news conference on Monday, US President George W. Bush once again expressed the belief that his eight-year presidency - particularly his foreign-policy record - will be vindicated by history, the portents are not particularly good. Already last spring, nearly two thirds of 109 professional historians polled by the "History News Network" rated Bush the worst president in the nation's history, while another 35 percent said he was among the 10 worst of the 42 who preceded him. And that was six months before the mid-September financial crisis that most economists agree will turn out to be the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

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Countries that will miss George Bush

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

BBC News - By Kim Ghattas - Jan. 13 (News Analysis) - A lot has been written about George W Bush's unpopularity around the globe - but what about those places where the outgoing president was popular?

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The Afghan Scam

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Asia Times - By Ann Jones - Jan. 12 (Special Report) - the Bush administration perpetrated a scam. It used the system it set up to dispense reconstruction aid to both the countries it "liberated," Afghanistan and Iraq, to transfer American taxpayer dollars from the national treasury directly into the pockets of private war profiteers. Think of Halliburton, Bechtel, and Blackwater in Iraq; Louis Berger Group, Bearing Point, and DynCorp International in Afghanistan. They're all in it together. So far, the Bush administration has bamboozled Americans about its shady aid program. Nobody talks about it. Yet the aid scam, which would be a scandal if it weren't so profitable for so many, explains far more than does troop strength about why, today, we are on the verge of watching the whole Afghan enterprise go belly up.

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In improving ties with India, Bush can claim a foreign policy success

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

International Herald Tribune - By Anand Giridharadas - Jan. 11 (News Analysis) - Manmohan Singh leads the largest democracy on Earth. But the Indian prime minister is gentle of manner and speaks in whispers. One struggles to imagine him professing love without shyness to his own wife. And so it meant something when he recently laid the L-word on a little-loved man: George W. Bush. "This may be my last visit to you during your presidency," Singh told the U.S. president in Washington in September, "and let me say, thank you very much. The people of India deeply love you."

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Bush's Legacy: 'History will serve him well' in Jacksonville

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Florida Times-Union - By David Hunt - Jan. 11 (Special Report) - His charm is a simple one, instinctive almost, a soft touch evolving more from personal values than politics. In winning wide margins of Northeast Florida votes, George W. Bush won hearts. As his days in the White House wind down, a number of Northeast Florida supporters salute him. Those who met him during his stops in Jacksonville liken him to a fishing buddy or an older brother. They see him as someone who conducted himself with a smooth candor in stark contrast to the bumbling incompetent frequently lambasted by the media and late-night talk shows. Bush found friends here in a world where his presidency will finish among the least popular in U.S. history. He leaves office with an approval rating edging below 30 percent, more than 60 percentage points off its high point after 9/11. "Jacksonville is an area where people work hard and take care of their families," said John Rood, a former U.S. ambassador who has hosted Bush fundraisers at his Mandarin home. "That resonates with his philosophies." The respect was mutual. With a laugh, Rood described why Bush liked visiting the First Coast: "He said, 'I get a five-finger wave here. I don't get that everywhere.' "

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Bush reviews unfinished business and his legacy

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Dallas Morning News - By Todd J. Gillman - Jan. 11 (News Analysis) - Every president leaves unfinished business. For George W. Bush, the list includes two wars and the war on terror, saving Social Security, establishing an enduring Republican majority, and much, much more. In some cases, like immigration reform, he concedes tactical miscalculations. Mostly, though, Bush maintains that he did his best and did the right thing, even when it cost him. "I know this, that I never sold my soul for the sake of approval ratings, which matter not one whit to me. Evidently they do to a lot of other people, but not to me," he told The Dallas Morning News last week. "What matters most is the principles that you adhere to in life, particularly if you're the president of the United States." It's a certitude his fans admire and detractors find maddening.

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President works to defend his legacy

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Sydney Morning Herald - By Sheryl Stolberg - Jan. 11 (News Report) - The countdown clocks that George Bush's chief of staff distributed 990 days ago are still ticking. His advisers tallied their remaining time last week and calculated fewer than 300 hours to go. Cardboard cartons are stacked in the West Wing as files are carefully catalogued for the archives. By Friday, the last official work day of the Bush White House, all but the most senior officials will have turned in their government-issued BlackBerrys and badges. This is what Mr Bush is calling the season of "the lasts". But while life inside the White House may be winding down, the legacy-building is gearing up. The White House website features an extensive recitation of Mr Bush's "highlights and accomplishments", including a document titled "One hundred things Americans may not know about the Bush Administration record". First on the list is "Kept America safe".

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For George Bush, every day brings a milestone

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Christian Science Monitor - By Dave Cook - Jan. 08 (News Report) - PHILADELPHIA - With only 12 days left in his presidency, nearly every item on George W. Bush’s schedule marks a milestone for him. On Thursday, Mr. Bush flew to the General Philip Kearny School in Philadelphia to deliver what he said was “my last policy speech as president of the United States.” It was a full-throated defense of the No Child Left Behind law that requires all students to be proficient in math and reading by 2014. Bush signed the law seven years ago Jan. 8, after marshaling bipartisan support for it. The measure “has forever changed America’s school systems,” he argued. The flight to Philly also had a poignant end-of-an-era feel – or an almost-end feel – to it. Deputy Press Secretary Scott Stanzel told members of the media traveling with the president that the 23-minute trip would be the next-to-last scheduled flight Bush would take on Air Force One as president. While waiting for the president to get on and off the plane, Bush administration staffers posed for pictures in front of the sparkling blue 747. It was hard to miss the contrast with the president’s successor. Bush’s talk in the inner-city school auditorium began minutes after Barack Obama began a major speech at George Mason University in Virginia about the economic after-effects of the Bush years. President-elect Obama’s talk drew major attention from the national media. Bush’s talk did not. Bu

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Bush's record on Middle East peace

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Aljazeera - Jan. 07 (Special Report) - Although Bush brought together Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, at the US city of Annapolis in November 2007, the Middle East leaders have since failed to make any substantial progress on final status talks.

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Critics can't resist one last Bush-bashing

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

San Jose Mercury News - By Dana Hull - Jan. 07 (News Report) - Eddy Sheldon hates George W. Bush so much, he's throwing the president a party. He figures it's the best way to celebrate the conclusion of one of the nation's most unpopular presidencies, or as Bush critics are calling it, the "end of an error."

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Bush orders new protections for Pacific marine seascapes

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Christian Science Monitor - By Peter N. Spotts - Jan. 06 (News Analysis) - A century after Teddy Roosevelt started preserving landmarks and landscapes as national monuments, President Bush has swept nearly 200,000 square miles of seascapes into three new national marine monuments around US Pacific territories. The much-anticipated action this week follows a similar move two years ago along the northwest Hawaiian islands. Taken together, the two efforts extend tough environmental safeguards to 355,000 square miles of islands, reefs, atolls, and their surrounding waters. Those included in the latest announcement represent some of the most remote, pristine reef systems in the world. The response from several environmental groups, long critical of the administration on a range of other issues, has been swift and effusive. “The president has given the Earth a Texas-size gift,” says Diane Regas, who heads the oceans program for the Environmental Defense Fund in New York. Tuesday’s action “opens a new era in ocean protection.”

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Bush's Environmental Legacy Draws Mixed Reviews

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Fox News - Jan. 06 (Special Report) - President Bush won the praise of environmentalists Tuesday for leading the largest marine conservation effort in history, but his critics are still bitter over his environmental legacy.

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Inauspicious beginning, inglorious end

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

rediff.com - By Matthew Schneeberger - Jan. 06 (News Analysis) - It's safe to say that George W Bush -- outside the most loyal of US Republican circles -- is an unpopular president, never mind that India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh believes Indians simply love him....Some of Bush's economic failures might be forgivable had he made major strides in the foreign policy arena. But today the US is mired in two expensive, protracted wars -- Iraq and Afghanistan -- and sustainable peace seems far-off in both countries. Globally, the perception of America has diminished, with Bush an easily identifiable symbol for the massive and growing anti-US sentiment in many parts of the world. Going to war in Iraq, virtually unilaterally and on dodgy intelligence, plus allegations of improper detainments at Guantanamo Bay and prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib in Iraq, have raised questions about the US's commitment to human rights.

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