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Presidency of George W. Bush

The '''Presidency of George W. Bush''' began on his inauguration on January 20, 2001 as the 43rd and current President of the United States|President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former United States President George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush was elected president in the United States presidential election, 2000|2000 general election. Bush was United States presidential election, 2004|re-elected in 2004 as president. Bush's term is scheduled to end January 20, 2009, with the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama.

Overview

Although losing the national popular vote, the Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court decision in ''Bush v. Gore'' awarded Bush the required number of United States Electoral College|electoral votes with a 537-vote margin in the state of Florida in a highly debated election. As President, Bush pushed through a .3 trillion tax cut program and the No Child Left Behind Act, and has also pushed for social conservatism|socially conservative efforts such as the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act and White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives|faith-based welfare initiatives. After the September 11, 2001 attacks|terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Bush declared a global ''War on Terrorism'' and ordered an War in Afghanistan (2001–present)|invasion of Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban, destroy Al-Qaeda and to capture Osama bin Laden in October 2001. In March 2003, Bush received a Iraq Resolution|mandate from the U.S. Congress to lead an 2003 invasion of Iraq|invasion of Iraq, asserting that Iraq was in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441|UN Security Council Resolution 1441. Running as a self-described "war president" in the midst of the Iraq War, Bush won United States presidential election, 2004|re-election in 20042004 Presidential Election Results and his George W. Bush presidential campaign, 2004|presidential campaign against United States Senate|Senator John Kerry was successful despite controversy over Bush's prosecution of the Iraq War and his handling of the economy.13 October 2004 "The Third Bush-Kerry Presidential Debate" transcriptCNN's exit poll showed Terrorism (19%) and Iraq (15%) as the third and fourth most important issues behind Moral Values (22%) and the Economy (20%) "CNN - U.S. President / National / Exit Poll / Election 2004" After his re-election, Bush received increasingly heated Criticism of George W. Bush|criticism, even from former allies. His domestic popularity decreasedPollingreport.com - PRESIDENT BUSH – Overall Job Rating in recent national polls due to the war and other issues such as the Criticism of government response to Hurricane Katrina|federal response to Hurricane Katrina, the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy, record budget deficits affecting the administration, and the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis.

Major issues of Presidency

State of the Union Addresses

Major treaties signed

- SORT (2002) - better known as the ''Moscow Treaty'', the United States and Russia agreed to limit their nuclear arsenal to 1700–2200 operationally deployed warheads each

Major acts as President

- Responding to the September 11, 2001 attacks
- Waging the War in Afghanistan (2001-present)|Afghanistan War against the Taliban and Al Qaeda
- Waging the Iraq War
- Establishing the United States Department of Homeland Security
- Establishing the Director of National Intelligence|Office of the Director of National Intelligence
- .3 trillion tax cut, tax rebates in 2001
- Establishing prison for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay detention camp|Guantanamo Bay
- USA PATRIOT Act
- No Child Left Behind Act
- Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement|CAFTA
- Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act
- Hurricane Katrina relief effort

Major treaties withdrawn

- ABM Treaty (2002) - limited anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems used in defending areas against missile-delivered nuclear weapons between the United States and the U.S.S.R.
- United Nations Population Fund (2002) - promoted the human right of "reproductive health", that is physical, mental, and social health in matters related to reproduction and the reproductive system.

Major legislation

Legislation signed

Legislation vetoed

President Bush has vetoed four pieces of legislation to date:
- July 19, 2006: Stem Cell Research Enactment Act of 2006
- May 1, 2007: H.R. 1591, U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act of 2007
- June 20, 2007: Stem Cell Research Enactment Act of 2007
- October 3, 2007: State Children's Health Insurance Program Expansion H.R. 976

Administration and Cabinet

Bush's United States Cabinet|Cabinet has included figures that were prominent in past administrations, notably former Secretary of State Colin Powell who had served as United States National Security Advisor under Ronald Reagan. Former United States Secretary of Defense|Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld had served as White House Chief of Staff and Secretary of Defense under Gerald Ford; Rumsfeld's successor, Robert Gates, served as Director of Central Intelligence under George H.W. Bush. Vice President Dick Cheney served as Secretary of Defense under George H. W. Bush. Bush places a high value on personal loyalty and, as a result, his administration has high Message Discipline|message discipline. He maintains a "hands-off" style of management that he believes prevents him from being tangled by intricacies that hinder sound decision-making. "I'm confident in my management style. I'm a delegator because I trust the people I've asked to join the team. I'm willing to delegate. That makes it easier to be President," he said in an interview with Diane Sawyer on American Broadcasting Company|ABC in December of 2003. Critics allege, however, that Bush is willing to overlook mistakes made by loyal subordinates. There has been only one non-Republican Party (United States)|Republican present in Bush's cabinet: United States Secretary of Transportation|Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta, the first Asian American cabinet secretary, who had previously served as United States Secretary of Commerce|Secretary of Commerce under Bill Clinton, is a Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat. Mineta resigned from Bush's cabinet on July 7, 2006 to pursue "other challenges". Mary Peters (politician)|Mary Peters, a Republican, was nominated and confirmed to succeed him as Transportation Secretary.

Advisors and other officials

- '''United States Deputy Secretary of Defense|Deputy Secretary of Defense''' – Paul Wolfowitz (2001–2005), Gordon R. England (2005–)
- '''Director of the Central Intelligence Agency|CIA Director''' - George Tenet (2001–2004), John E. McLaughlin (acting, 2004), Porter J. Goss (2004–2006), Michael Hayden (2006–)
- '''Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI Director''' - Louis Freeh (2001), Thomas J. Pickard (acting, 2001), Robert Mueller|Robert S. Mueller (2001–)
- '''Administrator of NASA|NASA Administrator''' - Sean O'Keefe (2001-2005), Michael D. Griffin (2005-)
- '''Federal Aviation Administration#List of FAA Administrators|FAA Administrator''' - Marion Blakey (2002-2007), Robert A. Sturgell (acting) (2007-)
- '''FDA commissioner''' - Mark McClellan (2002-2004), Lester Crawford (2005), Andrew von Eschenbach (2005–)
- '''United States National Security Advisor|National Security Advisor''' - Condoleezza Rice (2001–2005), Stephen Hadley (2005–)
- '''Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan|Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan''' - Meghan O'Sullivan (?–2007), Douglas Lute (2007–)
- '''United States Ambassadors to the United Nations|Ambassador to the United Nations''' - John Negroponte (2001–2004), John Danforth (2004); John R. Bolton (2005–2006), Zalmay Khalilzad (2007–)
- '''Federal Communications Commission|FCC Chairman''' - Michael Powell (politician)|Michael Powell (2001–2005), Kevin Martin (FCC)|Kevin Martin (2005–)
- '''Deputy White House Chief of Staff''' - Joe Hagin (2001–), Joshua B. Bolten (2001–2003), Harriet Miers (2003–2004), Karl Rove (2005–2007), Joel Kaplan (2006–)
- '''Director of National Intelligence''' - John Negroponte (2005–2007), John Michael McConnell (2007–)
- '''White House Counsel''' - Alberto R. Gonzales (2001–2005), Harriet Miers (2005–2007), Fred Fielding (2007–)
- '''White House Press Secretary''' - Ari Fleischer (2001–2003), Scott McClellan (2003–2006), Tony Snow (2006–2007), Dana Perino (2007-)
- '''Assistant to the President''' – Lewis Libby (2001–2005)
- '''Advisor''' - Karen Hughes (2001–2002) Appointed in 2005 to rank of Ambassador and Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs in the U.S. Department of State|State Department.
- '''Personal aide''' (body man) - Blake Gottesman (2000–2006)

Defence force nominations and appointments

- '''Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff''' – Richard B. Myers (2001 – 2005), Peter Pace (2005 – 2007), Michael Mullen (2007 – )
- '''Chief of Staff of the United States Army''' – Peter Schoomaker (2003-2007), George W. Casey, Jr. (2007 – )
- '''Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force''' – John P. Jumper (2001-2005), T. Michael Moseley (2005-2008)
- '''Chief of Naval Operations''' – Michael Mullen (2005-2007), Gary Roughead (2007-)

Supreme Court nominations and appointments

Bush Bush Supreme Court candidates|nominated the following people to the Supreme Court of the United States:
- '''John G. Roberts''' – 2005, was first nominated for Associate Justice replacing Sandra Day O'Connor; after the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Bush nominated him for the position of Chief Justice. Confirmed: 78-22
- '''Harriet Miers''' – 2005, was nominated upon the elevation of John G. Roberts as the Chief Justice. Her nomination was later withdrawn.
- '''Samuel Alito''' – 2006, nominated in 2005 upon the withdrawal of Harriet Miers. Confirmed: 58-42

Court of Appeals nominations and appointments

- Jeffrey R. Howard - 1st Circuit (2002)
- Barrington Daniels Parker, Jr. - 2nd Circuit (2001)
- Reena Raggi - 2nd Circuit (2002)
- Richard C. Wesley - 2nd Circuit (2003)
- Peter W. Hall - 2nd Circuit (2004)
- Debra Ann Livingston - 2nd Circuit (2007)
- D. Brooks Smith - 3rd Circuit (2002)
- Michael Chertoff - 3rd Circuit (2003)
- D. Michael Fisher - 3rd Circuit (2003)
- Franklin Stuart Van Antwerpen - 3rd Circuit (2004)
- Michael A. Chagares - 3rd Circuit (2006)
- Kent A. Jordan - 3rd Circuit (2006)
- Thomas M. Hardiman - 3rd Circuit (2007)
- Roger L. Gregory - 4th Circuit (2001)
- Dennis W. Shedd - 4th Circuit (2002)
- Allyson Kay Duncan - 4th Circuit (2003)
- G. Steven Agee - 4th Circuit (2008)
- Edith Brown Clement - 5th Circuit (2001)
- Edward C. Prado - 5th Circuit (2003)
- Priscilla Owen - 5th Circuit (2005)
- Jennifer Elrod|Jennifer Walker Elrod - 5th Circuit (2007)
- Leslie H. Southwick - 5th Circuit (2007)
- Catharina Haynes - 5th Circuit (2008)
- Julia Smith Gibbons - 6th Circuit (2002)
- John M. Rogers - 6th Circuit (2002)
- Jeffrey S. Sutton - 6th Circuit (2003)
- Deborah Cook (judge)|Deborah L. Cook - 6th Circuit (2003)
- David W. McKeague - 6th Circuit (2005)
- Richard Allen Griffin - 6th Circuit (2005)
- Susan Bieke Neilson - 6th Circuit (2005)
- Raymond Kethledge|Raymond M. Kethledge - 6th Circuit (2008)
- Helene White|Helene N. White - 6th Circuit (2008)
- Diane S. Sykes - 7th Circuit (2004)
- John Daniel Tinder - 7th Circuit (2007)
- William J. Riley - 8th Circuit (2001)
- Michael Joseph Melloy - 8th Circuit (2002)
- Lavenski R. Smith - 8th Circuit (2002)
- Steven M. Colloton - 8th Circuit (2003)
- Raymond W. Gruender - 8th Circuit (2004)
- William Duane Benton - 8th Circuit (2004)
- Bobby E. Shepherd - 8th Circuit (2006)
- Richard R. Clifton - 9th Circuit (2002)
- Jay Bybee - 9th Circuit (2003)
- Consuelo Maria Callahan - 9th Circuit (2003)
- Carlos T. Bea - 9th Circuit (2003)
- Milan Smith|Milan D. Smith, Jr. - 9th Circuit (2006)
- Sandra Segal Ikuta - 9th Circuit (2006)
- N. Randy Smith - 9th Circuit (2007)
- Harris L. Hartz - 10th Circuit (2001)
- Terrence L. O'Brien - 10th Circuit (2002)
- Michael W. McConnell - 10th Circuit (2002)
- Timothy M. Tymkovich - 10th Circuit (2003)
- Neil M. Gorsuch - 10th Circuit (2006)
- Jerome A. Holmes - 10th Circuit (2006)
- William H. Pryor, Jr. - 11th Circuit (2004)
- John G. Roberts, Jr. - D.C. Circuit (2003)
- Janice Rogers Brown - D.C. Circuit (2005)
- Thomas B. Griffith - D.C. Circuit (2005)
- Brett M. Kavanaugh - D.C. Circuit (2006)
- Sharon Prost - Federal Circuit (2001)
- Kimberly Ann Moore - Federal Circuit (2006)

Federal Reserve appointment

On October 24, 2005, Bush nominated Ben Bernanke to succeed Alan Greenspan as Chairman of the Federal Reserve|Chairman of the Federal Reserve. The United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs|Senate Banking Committee recommended Bernanke's confirmation by a 13-1 voice vote on November 16, 2005. With the full Senate's approval on January 31, 2006 by another voice vote, Bernanke was sworn in on February 1, 2006.

First term (2001-2005)

Second term (2005-Present)

Political philosophy

The guiding political philosophy of the Bush administration has been termed neoconservative. The specific elements of neoconservative leadership have been itemized in policy papers by members of the Project for a New American Century, and is represented in the editorial perspective of the political journal the Weekly Standard. Administration officials chosen from the membership of the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) began with the selection of the candidate for vice president, Dick Cheney. Others included Richard Armitage (politician)|Richard Armitage, Zalmay Khalilzad, Lewis Libby|Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Richard Perle, former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz. In 1998, following perceived Iraqi unwillingness to co-operate with United Nations|UN weapons inspections, members of the PNAC, including former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz, wrote to President Bill Clinton urging him to remove Saddam Hussein from power using US diplomatic, political and military power. In September 2000, the PNAC issued a report entitled ''Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategies, Forces, and Resources For A New Century'', proceeding "from the belief that America should seek to preserve and extend its position of global leadership by maintaining the preeminence of U.S. military forces." The group stated that when diplomacy or sanctions fail, the United States must be prepared to take military action. The PNAC argued that the Cold War deployment of forces was obsolete. Defense spending and force deployment must reflect the post-Cold War duties that US forces are obligated to perform. Constabulary duties such as peacekeeping in the Balkans and the enforcement of the Iraqi no-fly zones|No Fly Zones in Iraq put a strain upon, and reduced the readiness of US forces. The PNAC recommended the forward redeployment of US forces at new strategically placed permanent military bases in Southeast Europe and Southeast Asia. Permanent bases would ease the strain on US forces, allowing readiness to be maintained and the carrier fleet to be reduced. Furthermore, PNAC advocated that the US-globalized military should be enlarged, equipped and restructured for the "constabulary" roles associated with shaping the security in critical regions of the world.

Environmental Record

George W. Bush’s environmental record begins with promises as a presidential candidate to clean up power plants and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In a speech on September 29, 2000 in Saginaw, Michigan, Bush pledged to commit two billion dollars to the funding of clean coal technology research. In the same speech, he also promised to work with Congress, environmental groups and the energy industry to require a reduction of the emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury (element)|mercury and carbon dioxide into the environment within a “reasonable period of time.”George W. Bush for President Official Site: Speeches He would later reverse his position on that specific campaign pledge in March 2001 in a letter to Nebraska senator Chuck Hagel, stating that carbon dioxide was not considered a pollutant under the Clean Air Act, and that restricting carbon dioxide emissions would lead to higher energy prices.CNN.com - Bush reverses position on emissions reductions - March 14, 2001 In 2001, President Bush appointed Philip A. Cooney, a former lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute, to the White House Council on Environmental Equality. Cooney is known to have edited government climate reports in order to minimize the findings of scientific sources tying greenhouse gas emissions to global warming.Bush Aide Softened Greenhouse Gas Links to Global Warming - New York Times In March 2001, the Bush administration announced that it would not implement the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty signed in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan that would require nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, claiming that ratifying the treaty would create economic setbacks in the U.S. and does not put enough pressure to limit emissions from developing nations.BBC News | SCI/TECH | US blow to Kyoto hopes In February 2002, Bush announced his alternative to the Kyoto Protocol, by bringing forth a plan to reduce the intensity of greenhouse gasses by 18% over ten years. The intensity of greenhouse gasses specifically is the ratio of greenhouse gas emissions and economic output, meaning that under this plan, emissions would still continue to grow, but at a slower pace. Bush stated that this plan would prevent the release of 500 million metric tons of greenhouse gases, which is about the equivalent of 70 million cars from the road. This target would achieve this goal by providing tax credits to businesses that use renewable energy sources.CNN.com - Bush unveils voluntary plan to reduce global warming - February 14, 2002 In late November 2002, the Bush Administration released proposed rule changes that would lead to increased logging of federal forests for commercial or recreational activities by giving local forest managers the ability to open up the forests to development without requiring environmental impact assessments and without specific standards to maintain local fish and wildlife populations. The proposed changes would affect roughly of US forests and grasslands. Administration officials claimed the changes were appropriate because existing rules, which were approved by the Clinton administration two months before Bush took office, were unclear.Logging rules may be eased In November 2004, Bush administration officials asked the United Nations to allow US industries to use an additional 458 tons of methyl bromide, an ozone-destroying pesticide that was slated for elimination by the 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. The additional increase request brings the US’s total exemption for the year 2005 to 9,400 metric tons of methyl bromide, more than all other nations’ requests combined, and well over the 7,674 metric tons used by US agribusiness in 2002.ES&T Online News: Methyl bromide phaseout drags In January 2004, Interior Secretary Gale Norton approved a move to open nearly of Alaska's North Slope to oil and gas development, citing claims from the energy industry that nearly of oil could be extracted from the region. The North Slope neighbor's the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a sanctuary and habitat for migratory birds, whales, seals and other wildlife. Reports from the U.S. Geological Survey, however, estimate that less than one-third of the reported is economically recoverable in the entire National Petroleum Reserve.NRDC: The Bush Record - January 2004 Actions In July 2005 the United States Environmental Protection Agency|Environmental Protection Agency decided to delay the release of an annual report on fuel economy. The report shows that automakers have taken advantage of loopholes in US fuel economy regulations to manufacture vehicles that are less fuel-efficient than they were in the late 1980s. Fuel-efficiency had on average dropped six percent during that period, from 22.1 miles per gallon to 20.8 mpg. Evidence suggests that the administration’s decision to delay the report’s release was because of its potential to affect Congress’s upcoming final vote on an energy bill six years in the making, which turned a blind eye to fuel economy regulations.NY Times Advertisement In May 2006, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) allegedly blocked release of a report that suggested global warming had been a contributor to the frequency and strength of hurricanes in recent years. In February, NOAA (part of the Department of Commerce) set up a seven-member panel of climate scientists to compile the report. The panel’s chair, Ants Leema, received an e-mail from a Commerce Department official asking for the report to not be released as it needed to be made “less technical.”Journal: Agency Blocked Hurricane Report - washingtonpost.com NOAA would later go on to say that the report was not released because it “was not complete” and was in reality not a report, but a “two-page fact sheet about the issue.”http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/assets/binaries/nature-article

Controversy

Bush's presidency has been characterized by the unitary executive theory, which is a vigorous defense of "executive privilege", evidenced in such acts as signing Executive Order 13233, which suspends the release of presidential papers, tight control of Congressional inquiries into White House officers such as in the 9/11 Commission's interviews with Condoleezza Rice, Bush and Dick Cheney, and the generally high level of coordination between the White House, Congressional Republicans and Senate Republicans in both of Bush's terms. Many commentators have claimed that deference to executive privilege was one of the principal considerations in Bush's administration, when he proposed his three nominations for the Supreme Court, and appointed John R. Bolton to the United Nations. Policies of the Bush administration have been criticized for allegedly subverting elements of the Constitution, violating treaty obligations, and obstructing justice. The suspension of habeas corpus for US citizens was reversed by the Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court in ''Hamdi v. Rumsfeld'', 542 U.S. 507 (2004). Domestic spying has included undercover infiltration of political organizations with no suspected terrorist affiliations, telephone surveillance without a warrant, and the Carnivore (FBI)|Carnivore program for internet surveillance. The policy of holding enemy combatants in a legal status outside of either due process of criminal prosecution nor the Geneva conventions for prisoners of war created a legal limbo without a process for adjudication or appeal. The extraordinary rendition of an innocent citizen of Canada, to Syria, caused an international incident involving kidnapping, wrongful imprisonment and torture. The Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, stated in a white paper that "President Bush's constitutional vision is, in short, sharply at odds with the text, history, and structure of our Constitution, which authorizes a government of limited powers." Ellen Mariani, widow of Louis Neil Mariani, killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks|September 11 attacks, has charged George W. Bush, et al., because "Defendant GWB has not been forthright and honest with regard to his administration's pre-knowledge of the potential of the "911" attacks" (''Mariani v. Bush'', Case number 03-5273, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania|United States District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania). Former White House chief counter-terrorism advisor Richard A. Clarke has criticized both the failure to prevent the attacks of 9/11, and the response to them in both domestic and foreign policy, in his book Against All Enemies. The Union of Concerned Scientists published a report, ''Scientific Integrity in Policymaking,'' in March 2004 that criticized the unprecedented "manipulation, suppression, and misrepresentation of science by the Bush administration ... World renowned scientific institutions such as that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health take decades to build a team of world-class scientific expertise and talent. But they can be severely damaged in short order by the scientifically unethical behavior such as that displayed by the current administration." Third Way issued a new report on September 5, 2006 analyzing the Bush administration’s record on national security. The report was released at a press conference in the United States Capitol|Capitol with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, retired General Wesley Clark, Assistant Minority Leader Dick Durbin, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, Senate Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Carl Levin, and founding Third Way Co-Chair Senator Thomas Carper. In The Neo Con: The Bush Defense Record by the Numbers, Third Way analyzed available data across seven key national security indicators: Iraq, terrorism (broadly defined), Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea, the condition of the American military, and China. The report finds that the numbers lead to an indisputable conclusion that incompetence and a failed strategy have "helped lead us to this dangerous situation". Anti-crime tax funds have been appropriated to youth programs based on political connections instead of merit. Current and former United States Department of Justice|Justice Department employees allege that the head of the Justice Department's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention ignored staff rankings in favor of programs that had political, social or religious connections to the Bush White House.

Alleged War Crimes culpability

In 2007, Red Cross investigators concluded in a secret report that the Central Intelligence Agency's interrogation methods for high-level Al-Qaeda prisoners constituted torture which could make the Bush administration officials who approved them guilty of war crimes, according to the book ''The Dark Side (book)|Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals'' by Jane Mayer, a journalist for The New Yorker.New York Times, July 11, 2008, "Book Cites Secret Red Cross Report of C.I.A. Torture of Qaeda Captives" http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/washington/11detain.html According to the book, the report of the International Committee of the Red Cross found that the methods used on Abu Zubaydah, the first major Qaeda figure captured by the United States, were “categorically” torture, which is illegal under both American and international law. A copy of the report was given to the C.I.A. in 2007. For example, the book states that Abu Zubaydah was confined in a box “so small he said he had to double up his limbs in the fetal position” and was one of several prisoners to be “slammed against the walls,” according to the Red Cross report. The C.I.A. has admitted that Abu Zubaydah and two other prisoners were Waterboarding|waterboarded, a practice in which water is poured on the nose and mouth to create the sensation of suffocation and drowning. Lawrence Wilkerson, former army officer and chief of staff to United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State Colin Powell, warned senior Bush Administration officials who formulated the U.S. torture policy that they should never leave the U.S., except perhaps to Israel or Saudi Arabia, because they "broke the law" and could in the future be prosecuted "in a foreign court, or in an international court" for their roles in authorizing torture.The Guardian (UK), April 19, 2008, "Top Bush aides pushed for Guantánamo torture," http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/19/guantanamo.usa

Legacy

The legacy of President Bush and where he will stand in history remains to be seen. Historians are baffled over whether history will judge him as the worst ever or actually quite a good President.President Bush has had one of the most eventful 2 terms ever. Some argue that permanent democracy in Iraq and Afganhistan, a possible capture of Bin Laden, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief|President's AIDS program, response and prevention of further attacks after 9/11|September 11th attacks, and his creation of Medicare Part D will allow him to have a good place in history. Others argue that the Economic crisis of 2008, the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy and his poor response to Hurricane Katrina will put him as one of the worst Presidents ever. Many are quick to agree that Bush's name will be well known in the future, but in what aspect remains unknown.http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/nov/16/bushs-tough-decisions-to-shape-historical-legacy/

References

Category:George W. Bush|Presidency Category:George W. Bush Administration|

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