Donald Rumsfeld

Promising Signs As Obama's Cabinet Shapes Up

Joseph A. Palermo | Posted 12.25.2008 | Politics


Joseph A. Palermo

As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton could play the heavy with the Israeli government (for once) and demand that it makes serious concessions toward creating an independent Palestinian state.

"Bush Pardons Everyone Who Ever Worked in His Administration"

David Latt | Posted 12.22.2008 | Politics


David Latt

Before he leaves office, will President Bush use his power to pardon to shield the members of his administration from legal action? If so, his pardons will be a last effort to avoid accountability.

Stuff Happens: The Pentagon's Argument of Last Resort on Iraq

Tom Engelhardt | Posted 12.21.2008 | Politics


Tom Engelhardt

In a nutshell, the Pentagon's argument couldn't be simpler or more red-bloodedly American: We have too much stuff there to leave Iraq any time soon.

Why Guantanamo Must Be Closed: Advice for Barack Obama

Andy Worthington | Posted 12.18.2008 | Politics


Andy Worthington

In an attempt to separate fact from fiction, I'd like to offer my advice, based on the three years I have spent studying Guantanamo in unprecedented detail.

"New America" = Gone OLD Party

Robert S. McElvaine | Posted 12.14.2008 | Politics


Robert S. McElvaine

Prior to the start of the war in Iraq in 2003, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld made a distinction between "Old Europe" that opposed the America...

My Way, as sung by George W. Bush

Erica Heller | Posted 12.13.2008 | Entertainment


Erica Heller

Regrets, I've had a few; The "Mission Accomplished" banner was certainly loony. Not every dream came true, I don't wake up with Carla Bruni.

Will Obama's First Term Really Just be a Hybrid of Clinton III and GW Bush III?

Steve Clemons | Posted 12.07.2008 | Politics


Steve Clemons

There is a strong chance that Lawrence Summers is going to be returned to the post of Secretary of the Treasury. Larry will have to prove to us that he is different and not the harbinger of Clinton Term III.

Veterans' Families Cast a Vote for Change

Marcia G. Yerman | Posted 12.01.2008 | Politics


Marcia G. Yerman

I previously wrote an article about those who have served in our military, and the challenges facing them and their families. At that time, I intervi...

100 Million Suspects

Richard (RJ) Eskow | Posted 12.01.2008 | Politics


Richard (RJ) Eskow

In the end, the decision couldn't be clearer. This election is a referendum on trusting the electorate. It's a referendum on democracy itself.

Sympathy for "W", Not For Voters

Mike Papantonio | Posted 11.29.2008 | Politics


Mike Papantonio

Stone's movie is kind to "W" in that it makes a case that George spent most of his life swimming in water too deep for his swimming skills. The tragedy is that voters never recognized that.

Rumsfeld Getting $46,790 Portrait On Taxpayers' Dime

The Washington Post | Posted 11.22.2008 | Politics


Behind every great man or woman in Washington there is a great painting. As the Bush presidency draws to a close, portrait artists can expect a surge ...

New Pentagon Report Slams Missile Defense Agency

Joe Cirincione | Posted 11.20.2008 | Politics


Joe Cirincione

The study says that the Missile Defense Agency (MDA)'s rush to deploy something, anything, has come at the expense of research and careful development of weapons that work.

Powell's Tortured Endorsement

Charles J. Brown | Posted 11.17.2008 | Politics


Charles J. Brown

Powell endorsed Obama and I was moved by his statement, particularly his challenge to Republicans about their demonization of Islam. Despite this, I don't welcome his endorsement.

America's Shadow Government: Part Two

John W. Whitehead | Posted 11.09.2008 | Politics


John W. Whitehead

This database reportedly contains the names of Americans who, "often for the slightest and most trivial reason, are considered unfriendly, and who, in a time of panic, might be incarcerated."

Only 20 Presidents Had More Experience Than Obama

John K. Wilson | Posted 11.07.2008 | Home


John K. Wilson

Even if Obama were inexperienced, that would be no reason to vote against him. History shows us that an experienced politician usually makes for a lousy president. In fact, the most consistent variable to predict a failed presidency is experience.

America's Shadow Government: Part One

John W. Whitehead | Posted 11.06.2008 | Politics


John W. Whitehead

We are, for all intents and purposes, one terrorist attack away from having a full-fledged authoritarian state emerge from the shadows.

Top Bush Officials Participated In Torture Talks, New Documents Show

NY Times | MARK MAZZETTI | Posted 10.26.2008 | Politics


WASHINGTON -- Senior White House officials played a central role in deliberations in the spring of 2002 about whether the Central Intelligence Agency ...

'DC 9/11' is the New 'Reefer Madness'

Erik Lundegaard | Posted 10.25.2008 | Entertainment


Erik Lundegaard

Football metaphors abound. Boys who never went to war get to use the words of war. This is a movie that actually celebrates the worst foreign policy decisions we've ever made.

Ambassador for All War Crimes Except Our Own

Charles J. Brown | Posted 10.23.2008 | Politics


Charles J. Brown

The Office of War Crimes Issues doesn't just tell other countries to do as we say and not as we do. The Administration has actually made OWCI complicit of its own war crimes apparatus.

Book: Rumsfeld Made Rice Cry In The White House

Daily Telegrah | Tim Shipman | Posted 10.21.2008 | Politics


Known as the Steel Magnolia in her youth, Miss Rice has guided the US through the war on terror, looked tyrants in the eye and faced down terrorist th...

Turning Poetry Into Music

John Lundberg | Posted 10.15.2008 | Living


John Lundberg

Has poetry officially jumped the shark? I came across an NPR story this past week on a composer who set the "found poetry" of Donald Rumsfeld--pulled...

From the Day Terrorists Attacked My Neighborhood to Now

Joyce McFadden | Posted 10.12.2008 | Living


Joyce McFadden

I never thought that my daughter's school would turn into an Emergency Command Center, and the school beside hers a morgue.

Plain Food, Please

Amy Ephron | Posted 10.09.2008 | Living


Amy Ephron

We'd walked past it a couple of times, a simple storefront set back from the street with a small porch, a glimpse of tables inside, unassuming. The Key Lime Cafe. Full at lunch-time, we assumed it was a Maryland version of a diner.

Joe Knows National Security

Joe Cirincione | Posted 09.27.2008 | Politics


Joe Cirincione

If George Bush had listened to Joe Biden instead of Donald Rumsfeld, the history of the past seven years would have been very different. We might have prevented 9/11.

Georgia: What a Difference a Gates Makes

Richard Silverstein | Posted 09.15.2008 | Politics


Richard Silverstein

After reading statements from Bush and Secretary of Defense Gates, how thankful I am that the latter is running defense policy and not his predecessor Rumsfeld.