“As NATO expanded its role in Afghanistan in late 2005, on December 19 [Secretary of Defense Donald] Rumsfeld ordered that three thousand U.S. soldiers, a sixth of the force, be pulled out of the country. Though this was little noticed in the United States…Lieutenant General David Barno, who was then commanding U.S. forces in Afghanistan, […]
12/19/2005
“In justifying the need for the warrantless eavesdropping programs, President Bush, former NSA [National Security Agency] director [Michael] Hayden, and other senior administration officials repeatedly stressed that the program had delivered critically important intelligence, but naturally they have provided no details. All Hayden admitted [in a press conference on December 19, 2005] is that the […]
12/19/2005
” ‘Dealing with al-Qaeda is not simply a matter of law enforcement,’ President Bush said in a press conference on December 19, 2005. ‘It requires defending the country against an enemy that declared war against the United States. …So, consistent with U.S. law and Constitution, I authorized the interception of international communications of people with […]
12/18/2005
President “Bush wrapped up his Iraq speeches with a prime-time Oval Office address on December 18 [2005], his first since launching the war thirty-three months earlier. …’This work has been especially difficult in Iraq, more difficult than we expected,’ he acknowledged to thirty-seven million viewers. ‘Reconstruction efforts and the training of Iraqi security forces started […]
12/18/2005
In defense of enhanced interrogation techniques, Vice President Dick Cheney told ABC News, on December 18, 2005, ” ‘The rule is whether or not it shocks the conscience… Now, you can get into a debate about what shocks the conscience and what is cruel and inhuman. And to some extent, I suppose that’s in the […]
12/18/2005
On December 18, 2005, President “Bush told the nation in a Sunday-night address from the Oval Office: ‘It is true that Saddam Hussein had a history of pursuing and using weapons of mass destruction. It is true that he systematically concealed those programs, and blocked the work of U.N. weapons inspectors. It is true that […]
12/18/2005
President Bush gave a prime-time speech from the Oval Office on December 18, 2005. “As the war continued, he acknowledged, many people were arguing that the U.S. was ‘creating more problems than we’re solving’ by remaining in Iraq. He rejected the notion. ‘Defeatism may have its partisan uses, but it is not justified by the […]
12/17/2005
On December 17, 2005, President “Bush discussed the NSA [National Security Agency] [warrantless surveillance] program in his Saturday radio address. ‘In the weeks following the terrorist attacks on our nation,’ he said, ‘I authorized the National Security Agency, consistent with U.S. law and the Constitution, to intercept the international communications of people with known links […]
12/16/2005
From a New York Times article on December 16, 2005, “According to anonymous government officials quoted by the reporters [James Risen and Eric Lichtblau], NSA [National Security Agency] ‘eavesdrops without warrants on up to 500 people in the United States at any given time… Overseas, about 5,000 to 7,000 people suspected of terrorist ties are […]
12/16/2005
“On December 16, 2005, the lead article in the New York Times, by James Risen and Eric Lichtblau, was titled ‘Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts.’ The article instantly became a national sensation, revealing the broad outlines of a secret eavesdropping program run by the NSA [National Security Agency] to find al Qaeda […]