Administration Pulls Back on Surveillance Agreement “Senior Bush administration officials told Congress on Tuesday that they could not pledge that the administration would continue to seek warrants from a secret court for a domestic wiretapping program, as it agreed to do in January. Rather, they argued that the president had the constitutional authority to decide for himself whether to conduct surveillance without warrants.” (NY Times)Hoon Admits Fatal Error in Planning for Post-War Iraq “A catalogue of errors over planning for Iraq after the invasion, and an inability to influence key figures in the US administration, led to anarchy in Iraq from which the country has not recovered, the British defense secretary during the invasion admits today. In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Geoff Hoon reveals that Britain disagreed with the US administration over two key decisions in May 2003, two months after the invasion – to disband Iraq’s army and “de-Ba’athify” its civil service. Mr. Hoon also said he and other senior ministers completely underestimated the role and influence of the vice-president, Dick Cheney.” (The Guardian)
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=180911