George W. Bush's second term as President of the United States

George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

's second term as President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

began at noon on January 20, 2005 and expired with the swearing-in of the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

, at noon, Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

time, on January 20, 2009.

Stated goals

Bush's stated goals for his second term:

Major changes to the federal tax code
Taxation in the United States
The United States is a federal republic with autonomous state and local governments. Taxes are imposed in the United States at each of these levels. These include taxes on income, property, sales, imports, payroll, estates and gifts, as well as various fees.Taxes are imposed on net income of...
Limits on medical malpractice lawsuits (tort reform
Tort reform
Tort reform refers to proposed changes in common law civil justice systems that would reduce tort litigation or damages. Tort actions are civil common law claims first created in the English commonwealth system as a non-legislative means for compensating wrongs and harm done by one party to...

and non-economic damages caps
Non-economic damages caps
Non-economic damages caps are controversial tort reforms to limit damages for intangible harms such as severe pain, physical and emotional distress, disfigurement, loss of the enjoyment of life that an injury has caused, including sterility, physical impairment and loss of a loved one, etc...

)
Reform of Social Security
Social Security (United States)
In the United States, Social Security refers to the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program.The original Social Security Act and the current version of the Act, as amended encompass several social welfare and social insurance programs...
Immigration Reform
Continuation of the War in Iraq
Continue to fight the War on Terror
War on Terror
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
Strengthen public education, particularly through the continuation of the No Child Left Behind Act
No Child Left Behind Act
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 is a United States Act of Congress concerning the education of children in public schools.NCLB was originally proposed by the administration of George W. Bush immediately after he took office...
Expand college affordability programs

Inauguration

Some $40 million was raised by private sponsors such as ExxonMobil

ExxonMobil

Exxon Mobil Corporation or ExxonMobil, is an American multinational oil and gas corporation. It is a direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil company, and was formed on November 30, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and Mobil. Its headquarters are in Irving, Texas...

, Chevron

Chevron Corporation

Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation headquartered in San Ramon, California, United States and active in more than 180 countries. It is engaged in every aspect of the oil, gas, and geothermal energy industries, including exploration and production; refining,...

, Cinergy

Cinergy

-History:Cinergy was created on October 24, 1994, from the merger of the Cincinnati Gas & Electric Company and Kentucky subsidiary Union Light, Heat & Power with Plainfield, Indiana–based PSI Energy ....

, Occidental Petroleum

Occidental Petroleum

Occidental Petroleum Corporation is a California-based oil and gas exploration and production company with operations in the United States, the Middle East, North Africa, and South America...

and the Nuclear Energy Institute

Nuclear Energy Institute

The Nuclear Energy Institute is a nuclear industry lobbying group in the United States.- Synopsis :According to its website, the NEI "develops policy on key legislative and regulatory issues affecting the industry. NEI then serves as a unified industry voice before the U.S...

. The money was to be spent on parties

Party

A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, or recreation. A party will typically feature food and beverages, and often music and dancing as well....

, parade

Parade

A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of some kind...

s, and other celebrations before and after the actual inauguration. Donors received special tickets and seating at the events. While Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

's second inauguration in 1997 cost $42.7 million, Bush drew some criticism for planning such an extravagant celebration.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) designated the inaugural events as a National Special Security Event

National Special Security Event

A National Special Security Event is an event of national or international significance deemed by the United States Department of Homeland Security to be a potential target for terrorism or other criminal activity...

(NSSE). The designation provided additional security measures and a higher number of security personnel

Security guard

A security guard is a person who is paid to protect property, assets, or people. Security guards are usually privately and formally employed personnel...

. Bush was surrounded by Secret Service

United States Secret Service

The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...

officers and police on all sides of the procession from the Capitol

United States Capitol

The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall...

to the White House

White House

The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

and snipers were positioned on top of buildings. Due to the tight security

Security

Security is the degree of protection against danger, damage, loss, and crime. Security as a form of protection are structures and processes that provide or improve security as a condition. The Institute for Security and Open Methodologies in the OSSTMM 3 defines security as "a form of protection...

measures the most significant threat to materialize was a snowball thrown at Dick Cheney

Dick Cheney

Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States , under George W. Bush....

's limousine. There were many protesters and at least one fire, however, but this did not threaten the safety of the event in any significant way. Bush remained in his own limousine until he reached the last leg of the journey down Pennsylvania Avenue

Pennsylvania Avenue

Pennsylvania Avenue is a street in Washington, D.C. that joins the White House and the United States Capitol. Called "America's Main Street", it is the location of official parades and processions, as well as protest marches...

, where, as is traditional, he got out of his car and walked the rest of the way. This was the most heavily secured inauguration in the history of the United States.

First 100 days

George W. Bush, having won a majority of the vote in the 2004 election

United States presidential election, 2004

The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator...

, began his second term with a self-declared "historic victory" and with "political capital

Political capital

Political capital is primarily based on a public figure's favorable image among the populace and among other important factors in or out of the government. Political capital is essentially the opinion of another person, group of people, or nation about you, your organization, or your government...

". He is the sixteenth president to win a full second term. As in his first term, he began his second administration with a majority of his party, the Republicans

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

, in both the House

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

and Senate

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

Social Security reform

The first month of Bush's second term was largely spent in debate

Social Security debate (United States)

This article concerns proposals to change the Social Security system in the United States. Social Security is a social insurance program officially called "Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance" , in reference to its three components. It is primarily funded through a dedicated payroll tax...

over one of his stated goals, partial privatization

Privatization

Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...

of Social Security

Social Security (United States)

In the United States, Social Security refers to the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program.The original Social Security Act and the current version of the Act, as amended encompass several social welfare and social insurance programs...

. The plan called to give younger workers the option of redirecting some payroll tax

Payroll tax

Payroll tax generally refers to two different kinds of similar taxes. The first kind is a tax that employers are required to withhold from employees' wages, also known as withholding tax, pay-as-you-earn tax , or pay-as-you-go tax...

es into their own private account. Current retirees and those soon to retire would see little change, but opponents of Social Security reform contend that later retirees would receive lower benefits. Congress' budget analysts estimated that the program's trust funds would be depleted in 2052, and something had to be done to save the program. Republicans even argued that the trust fund had already been spent for other purposes with no plan to pay it back and that Social Security would run out of funds by 2018. Democrats

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

, however, accused the President and other Republicans of creating a Social Security scare, and that the program was not in as much danger as the Republicans had claimed. Social Security plan remained a priority for Bush's national agenda for several months but it proved unpopular with the majority of the public and ultimately no reform came to pass.

2005 State of the Union Address

On February 2 Bush delivered the first State of the Union Address

State of the Union Address

The State of the Union is an annual address presented by the President of the United States to the United States Congress. The address not only reports on the condition of the nation but also allows the president to outline his legislative agenda and his national priorities.The practice arises...

of his second term. He discussed his plans for partially privatizing Social Security, receiving jeers from Democrats and applause from Republicans. He chastised Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

as the "primary state sponsor of terror

State-sponsored terrorism

State-sponsored terrorism is a term used to describe terrorism sponsored by nation-states. As with terrorism, the precise definition, and the identification of particular examples, are subjects of heated political dispute...

" and promised Iranian reformists the backing of the U.S., and warned Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

to stop supporting terrorists as well. He encouraged Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

and Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...

to do more to foster democracy as part of the United States' highest ideal in the War on Terror

War on Terror

The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...

: "America will stand with the allies of freedom to support democratic movements in the Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

and beyond, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny

Authoritarianism

Authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is usually opposed to individualism and democracy...

in our world... Our aim is to build and preserve a community of free and independent nations, with governments that answer to their citizens, and reflect their own cultures. And because democracies respect their own people and their neighbors, the advance of freedom will lead to peace." A regular device of recent State of the Union Addresses is to use special guests to illustrate points. This address included an embrace between the parents of a Marine

United States Marine Corps

The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...

killed in Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

, and an Iraqi woman, Safia Taleb al-Suhail, who took part in the recent Iraqi election, 11 years after her own father was murdered by Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...

's intelligence services.

Bush did have a legislative success in February when the Congress passed and he signed the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005

Class Action Fairness Act of 2005

The U.S. Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, 28 U.S.C. Sections 1332, 1453, and 1711–1715, expanded federal jurisdiction over many large class-action lawsuits and mass actions taken in the United States....

. Similar bills had been stalled by filibuster

Filibuster

A filibuster is a type of parliamentary procedure. Specifically, it is the right of an individual to extend debate, allowing a lone member to delay or entirely prevent a vote on a given proposal...

s in his first term.

President's trip to Europe

President Bush began his crucial Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an tour on February 20 in hopes of repairing relations between Europe and the U.S. His five-day trip began in Brussels

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

and concluded in Slovakia

Slovakia

The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

where he met with virtually every prominent politician on the continent: Jacques Chirac

Jacques Chirac

Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...

, Gerhard Schröder

Gerhard Schröder

Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder is a German politician, and was Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany , he led a coalition government of the SPD and the Greens. Before becoming a full-time politician, he was a lawyer, and before becoming Chancellor...

, Viktor Yushchenko

Viktor Yushchenko

Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is a former President of Ukraine. He took office on January 23, 2005, following a period of popular unrest known as the Orange Revolution...

, Tony Blair

Tony Blair

Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...

, Silvio Berlusconi

Silvio Berlusconi

Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...

, members of the European Council

European Council

The European Council is an institution of the European Union. It comprises the heads of state or government of the EU member states, along with the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Council, currently Herman Van Rompuy...

, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) heads of states, and completed with Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...

. After Brussels, President Bush stopped in Mainz

Mainz

Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, where he dined with U.S. troops based near Wiesbaden

Wiesbaden

Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...

. Bush ultimately arrived for the conclusive Slovakia Summit

Slovakia Summit 2005

The Slovakia Summit 2005 was a summit between George W. Bush, the president of the United States of America, and Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, in Bratislava, Slovakia between 23 and 25 February 2005. This marked the first occasion when a sitting President of the United States visited...

for a conversation with Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n President Vladimir Putin. President Bush's celebrated arrival to Slovakia — marking the first time a sitting President of the United States visited Slovakia — was greeted by Slovakian Prime Minister Mikuláš Dzurinda

Mikuláš Dzurinda

Mikuláš Dzurinda is a Slovak politician who was Prime Minister of Slovakia from 30 October 1998 to 4 July 2006. He was a founder and leader of the Slovak Democratic Coalition and the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union...

and President Ivan Gašparovič

Ivan Gašparovic

Ivan Gašparovič is a Slovak politician and law professor who has been the President of Slovakia since 15 June 2004. He is also the first Slovak president to be re-elected.-Biography:...

.

Bush continued to warm relations with critical allies following the trip, notably through meetings with new leaders Stephen Harper

Stephen Harper

Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...

of Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

in March and Angela Merkel

Angela Merkel

Angela Dorothea Merkel is the current Chancellor of Germany . Merkel, elected to the Bundestag from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, has been the chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union since 2000, and chairwoman of the CDU-CSU parliamentary coalition from 2002 to 2005.From 2005 to 2009 she led a...

of Germany

Germany

in January.

Bolton nomination

On March 7 Bush nominated John Bolton

John R. Bolton

John Robert Bolton is an American lawyer and diplomat who has served in several Republican presidential administrations. He served as the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations from August 2005 until December 2006 on a recess appointment...

as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations

United States Ambassador to the United Nations

The United States Ambassador to the United Nations is the leader of the U.S. delegation, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. The position is more formally known as the "Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations, with the rank and status of Ambassador...

. Congressional Democrats and Republican George Voinovich

George Voinovich

George Victor Voinovich is a former United States Senator from the state of Ohio, and a member of the Republican Party. Previously, he served as the 65th Governor of Ohio from 1991 to 1998, and as the 54th mayor of Cleveland from 1980 to 1989.-Personal life:Born in Cleveland, Ohio, his father was...

filibuster

Filibuster

A filibuster is a type of parliamentary procedure. Specifically, it is the right of an individual to extend debate, allowing a lone member to delay or entirely prevent a vote on a given proposal...

ed the nomination, claiming the Bush administration was withholding important documents from Bolton's service in the Department of Defense

United States Department of Defense

The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...

. On August 1 Bush appointed Bolton to the position during a congressional recess.

Energy plan

On April 15, Bush called for an energy plan to be developed by Congress. After lengthy negotiations between the House and Senate, the Energy Policy Act of 2005

Energy Policy Act of 2005

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 is a bill passed by the United States Congress on July 29, 2005, and signed into law by President George W. Bush on August 8, 2005, at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico...

passed. Although it included large subsidies for the oil, coal, nuclear, and natural gas industries and weakened many environmental protections, Bush touted the provisions that maintained a wind tax credit and conservation and efficiency incentives. Despite pressure from Bush and [Alaska]'s senators, environmentalists

Environmentalism

Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...

were able to keep drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a national wildlife refuge in northeastern Alaska, United States. It consists of in the Alaska North Slope region. It is the largest National Wildlife Refuge in the country, slightly larger than the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge...

out of the bill. Bush signed it into law on August 8.

Assassination attempt

During a visit to the Republic of Georgia

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

on May 10, 2005 there was an attempt to assassinate

Assassination

To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...

Bush by Vladimir Arutinian

Vladimir Arutinian

Vladimir Arutyunian is an ethnic Armenian born in Georgia known for his 10 May 2005 attempt to assassinate United States President George W. Bush and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili which failed when the hand grenade he threw at the two failed to detonate...

, whose live grenade

Grenade

A grenade is a small explosive device that is projected a safe distance away by its user. Soldiers called grenadiers specialize in the use of grenades. The term hand grenade refers any grenade designed to be hand thrown. Grenade Launchers are firearms designed to fire explosive projectile grenades...

failed to detonate after hitting a girl and landing in the large crowd 19 meters from the podium

Podium

A podium is a platform that is used to raise something to a short distance above its surroundings. It derives from the Greek πόδι In architecture a building can rest on a large podium. Podia can also be used to raise people, for instance the conductor of an orchestra stands on a podium as do many...

where Bush was delivering a speech.

2006 State of the Union Address

In Bush's 2006 State of the Union Address

2006 State of the Union address

The 2006 State of the Union Address was delivered by United States President George W. Bush at 9 p.m. EST on Tuesday, January 31, 2006 to a joint session of the U.S. Congress...

, delivered on January 31, he declared, "America is addicted to oil" and announced his Advanced Energy Initiative to increase alternative energy

Energy development

Energy development is the effort to provide sufficient primary energy sources and secondary energy forms for supply, cost, impact on air pollution and water pollution, mitigation of climate change with renewable energy....

research. While keeping with many of the same priorities and achievements he outlined in his previous address, Bush touted elections in Egypt

Egypt

and the Palestinian territories and praised reform in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia

.

Bush pressed the Congress to focus on reforming Social Security

Social Security (United States)

and Medicare

Medicare (United States)

Medicare is a social insurance program administered by the United States government, providing health insurance coverage to people who are aged 65 and over; to those who are under 65 and are permanently physically disabled or who have a congenital physical disability; or to those who meet other...

. This address was seen as key as to whether Bush's Republican Party

Republican Party (United States)

would get head-start with polls indicating their defeat later in the year.

Fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks

Bush launched a public relations campaign prior to the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on American soil. In a series of speeches, President Bush spoke more openly about his the American interrogation program, touted progress in the War on Terror

War on Terror

, declared the Iraq War central to it, and shifted Bush's rhetoric

Rhetoric

Rhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the facility of speakers or writers who attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of formal study and a productive civic practice, rhetoric has played a central role in the Western...

from portraying the Iraq War as the cornerstone of a transformational change to democracy in the Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

to the battleground in a broader global conflict with Islamic extremism

Islamic extremism

Islamic extremism refers to two related and partially overlapping but also distinct aspects of extremist interpretations and pursuits of Islamic ideology:...

comparable to the fight against Nazi fascism

Fascism

Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...

in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

On September 11, 2006, the United States and relatives of the victims commemorated the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on American soil. President Bush visited the sites of the attacks, laying a wreath

Wreath

A wreath is an assortment of flowers, leaves, fruits, twigs and/or various materials that is constructed to resemble a ring. They are used typically as Christmas decorations to symbolize the coming of Christ, also known as the Advent season in Christianity. They are also used as festive headdresses...

with First Lady

First Lady

First Lady or First Gentlemanis the unofficial title used in some countries for the spouse of an elected head of state.It is not normally used to refer to the spouse or partner of a prime minister; the husband or wife of the British Prime Minister is usually informally referred to as prime...

Laura Bush

Laura Lane Welch Bush is the wife of the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush. She was the First Lady of the United States from January 20, 2001, to January 20, 2009. She has held a love of books and reading since childhood and her life and education have reflected that interest...

at the field near Shanksville

Shanksville, Pennsylvania

Shanksville is a borough in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, United States, with a population of 245, as of the 2000 census. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area and is approximately 60 miles southeast from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...

, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

in which United Flight 93 crashed. Bush later that day delivered a prime-time speech from the Oval Office

Oval Office

The Oval Office, located in the West Wing of the White House, is the official office of the President of the United States.The room features three large south-facing windows behind the president's desk, and a fireplace at the north end...

, proclaiming the War on Terror the "ideological struggle of the 21st century and the calling of our generation" and a "struggle for civilization." While conceding the misconceived link between Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...

and al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...

, supported by the conclusion of a U.S. Senate report released on September 8, he said Hussein's regime posed a "clear threat" that justified a war that he said has made the world safer. Bush was resolute that changing direction in Iraq would be tantamount to giving in to terrorists like Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...

whom he said sees the Iraq War as "The Third World War

World War III

World War III denotes a successor to World War II that would be on a global scale, with common speculation that it would be likely nuclear and devastating in nature....

Mid-term elections

President Bush lent his views to a few controversies that would potentially shape the mid-term elections

United States general elections, 2006

The 2006 United States midterm elections were held on Tuesday, November 7, 2006. All United States House of Representatives seats and one third of the United States Senate seats were contested in this election, as well as 36 state governorships, many state legislatures, four territorial...

, held on November 7, 2006. On October 11 Bush called Mark Foley

Mark Foley

Mark Adam Foley is a former member of the United States House of Representatives. He served from 1995 until 2006, representing the 16th District of Florida as a member of the Republican Party....

's actions in the congressional page

United States House of Representatives Page

United States House of Representatives Page Program was a program run by the United States House of Representatives, under the office of the Clerk of the House, in which appointed high school juniors acted as non-partisan federal employees in the House of Representatives, providing supplemental...

scandal

Mark Foley scandal

The Mark Foley scandal, which broke in late September 2006, centers on soliciting e-mails and sexually suggestive instant messages sent by Mark Foley, a Republican Congressman from Florida, to teenaged boys who had formerly served as congressional pages...

disgusting and said the Republicans would retain control of Congress in the 2006 congressional elections despite the scandal. On October 30, the John Kerry

John Kerry

John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...

said, "You know, education - if you make the most of it, you study hard and you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq." Bush countered, "The senator's suggestion that the men and women of our military are somehow uneducated is insulting and shameful. The men and women who serve in our all-volunteer armed forces are plenty smart and are serving because they are patriots - and Senator Kerry owes them an apology." Kerry initially refused to apologize, saying, "The White House's attempt to distort my true statement is a remarkable testament to their abject failure in making America safe. It's a stunning statement about their willingness to reduce anything in America to raw politics." Kerry caved in to bipartisan pressure and apologized the next day on November 1.

Bush also went on the campaign trail, stressing that the Republicans were strong on national security and would keep taxes low, unlike the Democrats.

But Bush's tone changed accordingly when the Republicans lost the majority of state governorships and control of both houses of the bicameral legislature, the House of Representatives and the Senate, to the Democrats. The next day on November 8, Defense Secretary

United States Secretary of Defense

The Secretary of Defense is the head and chief executive officer of the Department of Defense of the United States of America. This position corresponds to what is generally known as a Defense Minister in other countries...

Donald Rumsfeld

Donald Henry Rumsfeld is an American politician and businessman. Rumsfeld served as the 13th Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford, and as the 21st Secretary of Defense from 2001 to 2006 under President George W. Bush. He is both the youngest and the oldest person to...

resigned. Rumsfeld, who had endured several calls for his resignation but had won what many thought was an assurance of his job security as recently as November 1 by Bush's voiced confidence in his job performance, served until the confirmation of his successor, whom Bush nominated that day to be former CIA Director Robert Gates

Robert Gates

Dr. Robert Michael Gates is a retired civil servant and university president who served as the 22nd United States Secretary of Defense from 2006 to 2011. Prior to this, Gates served for 26 years in the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council, and under President George H. W....

. Bush spoke about these developments in a press conference. Regarding the elections, he said, "Look, this was a close election. If you look at race by race, it was close. The cumulative effect, however, was not too close. It was a thumping... I'm obviously disappointed with the outcome of the election, and as the head of the Republican Party, I share a large part of the responsibility. I told my party's leaders that it is now our duty to put the elections behind us and work together with the Democrats and independents on the great issues facing this country." Bush highlighted bipartisan efforts in the past: "We had some pretty good success early on in this administration. We got the No Child Left Behind Act

No Child Left Behind Act

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 is a United States Act of Congress concerning the education of children in public schools.NCLB was originally proposed by the administration of George W. Bush immediately after he took office...

passed, which was an important part of bipartisan legislation. We got some tax cuts passed with Democrat votes", adding later that the prospects of immigration reform

Immigration reform

Immigration reform is a term used in political discussion regarding changes to current immigration policy of a country. In its strict definition, "reform " means to change into an improved form or condition, by amending or removing faults or abuses....

are improved under a Democratic-led Congress. He also said, "I knew we were going to lose seats, I just didn't know how many... I thought when it was all said and done, the American people would understand the importance of taxes and the importance of security." Regarding the Defense Secretary post, he said he made the decision based on the consent from Rumsfeld, whom he said appreciated "the value of bringing in a fresh perspective during a critical period in this war [in Iraq]", and Gates from speaking to them on election day, and that the change would have happened regardless of the outcome of the elections. While affirming the United States' commitment to the mission in Iraq through statements to U.S. enemies, U.S. troops, and the Iraqi people, he said he was "looking forward" to the suggestions of the Iraq Study Group

Iraq Study Group

The Iraq Study group , was a ten-person bipartisan panel appointed on March 15, 2006, by the United States Congress, that was charged with assessing the situation in Iraq and the US-led Iraq War and making policy recommendations...

, of which Gates was a member at the time, on U.S. policy in Iraq.

Invoking the 25th Amendment

On July 21, 2007 Bush underwent a colonoscopy

Colonoscopy

Colonoscopy is the endoscopic examination of the large bowel and the distal part of the small bowel with a CCD camera or a fiber optic camera on a flexible tube passed through the anus. It may provide a visual diagnosis and grants the opportunity for biopsy or removal of suspected...

for the second time. During the 2½ hour operation the 25th Amendment was invoked making Dick Cheney the Acting President for the second time within Bush's presidency.

Shoe-throwing incident

On December 15, 2008, as gesture of disdain and disrespect, journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi threw both his shoes at President Bush while giving a press conference in Iraq. President Bush dodged both. Afterwards Mr. Zaidi was wrestled to the ground by security personnel and hauled away.

Terri Schiavo case

In 2005, a national controversy arose over the fate of Terri Schiavo

Terri Schiavo

The Terri Schiavo case was a legal battle in the United States between the legal guardians and the parents of Teresa Marie "Terri" Schiavo that lasted from 1998 to 2005...

, a woman diagnosed as being in an irreversible persistent vegetative state

Persistent vegetative state

A persistent vegetative state is a disorder of consciousness in which patients with severe brain damage are in a state of partial arousal rather than true awareness. It is a diagnosis of some uncertainty in that it deals with a syndrome. After four weeks in a vegetative state , the patient is...

. Her husband was trying to get her feeding tube removed against the wishes of Schiavo's family through court action. After a state court ordered the feeding tube removed, Congress passed the Palm Sunday Compromise

Palm Sunday Compromise

The Palm Sunday Compromise, formally known as the Act for the relief of the parents of Theresa Marie Schiavo, is an Act of Congress passed on March 21, 2005, to allow the case of Terri Schiavo to be moved into a federal court...

allowing the case to be moved from state court into federal court. The Senate passed the act late in the evening on March 20, 2005 (Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in all four Canonical Gospels. ....

), and the House passed it after midnight on March 21. Bush flew to Washington from his vacation in ranch

Prairie Chapel Ranch

Prairie Chapel Ranch is a 1,583 acre ranch in unincorporated McLennan County, Texas, located seven miles northwest of Crawford. The property was acquired by President George W...

in Crawford

Crawford, Texas

Crawford is a town located in western McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is best known as the home of former President of the United States George W. Bush. He currently resides at the Prairie Chapel Ranch, which is located just outside Crawford, Texas....

, Texas to sign the bill half an hour after it was passed at 1:11 am. However, Schiavo's family's case was unsuccessful, and her feeding tube was removed on March 18, 2005. She died on March 31, 2005.

After her death, Bush offered his sympathies to the family and said:

Hurricane Katrina

During a working vacation Bush left his ranch two days early following criticism of a slow and inadequate response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...

in Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

, Mississippi

Mississippi

Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...

, and Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

in late August 2005. On August 30, 2005, Bush received additional criticism when photographed playing a guitar he was presented with by country

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

singer Mark Wills

Mark Wills

Daryl Mark Williams is an American country music artist, best known professionally as Mark Wills. Signed to Mercury Records between 1996 and 2003, he released five studio albums for the label — Mark Wills, Wish You Were Here, Permanently, Loving Every Minute and And the Crowd Goes Wild — as well...

during a speech at California's Naval Base Coronado. The administration also faced mounting complaints about the ongoing occupation of Iraq, which some saw as draining much needed manpower and resources needed in the United States during disasters. Bush also faced criticism from fiscal conservatives and those who felt the disaster relief efforts came too late when Bush signed into law a flurry of legislation, including the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act to Meet Immediate Needs Arising From the Consequences of Hurricane Katrina, Second Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act to Meet Immediate Needs Arising From the Consequences of Hurricane Katrina, 2005 Flexibility for Displaced Workers Act, Katrina Emergency Tax Relief Act of 2005, QI, TMA, and Abstinence Programs Extension and Hurricane Katrina Unemployment Relief Act of 2005, and the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act of 2005. Some pundits observed that these recovery activities illustrated Bush's compassionate conservatism

Compassionate conservatism

Compassionate Conservatism is a political philosophy that stresses using traditionally conservative techniques and concepts in order to improve the general welfare of society. The term itself is often credited to U.S. historian and politician Doug Wead who used it as the title of a speech in 1979....

, giving opportunities to the needy through a public works overhaul that included emergency aid and incentives to work. Federal Emergency Management Agency

Federal Emergency Management Agency

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security, initially created by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1978 and implemented by two Executive Orders...

(FEMA) Director Michael Brown

Michael D. Brown

Michael DeWayne Brown was the first Undersecretary of Emergency Preparedness and Response , a division of the Department of Homeland Security . This position is generally referred to as the director or administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency . He was appointed in January 2003 by...

, with whom the Bush administration feuded in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, resigned on September 12; on September 13, in a vague answer to his critics, Bush said, "[T]o the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility."

Approaching the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina

, on August 23, President Bush met with Rockey Vaccarella

Rockey Vaccarella

Rockey Vaccarella is a resident of St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana and a Hurricane Katrina survivor/activist. He attracted international attention in August 2006 for driving his Federal Emergency Management Agency trailer to the White House to thank President George W. Bush for the mobile homes...

, a St. Bernard Parish

St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana

St. Bernard Parish is a parish located southeast of New Orleans in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Chalmette, the largest city in the parish. As of 2000, its population was 67,229. It has been ranked the fastest-growing county in the United States from 2007 to 2008 by the U.S....

resident and Katrina survivor who drove his FEMA trailer to the White House to thank the president for providing mobile homes to victims.

Supreme Court and Federal Reserve appointments

Bush enjoyed successful nominations to the Supreme Court

Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...

and Federal Reserve toward the end of the first year in his second term. After Associate Justice

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States are the members of the Supreme Court of the United States other than the Chief Justice of the United States...

Sandra Day O'Connor

Sandra Day O'Connor is an American jurist who was the first female member of the Supreme Court of the United States. She served as an Associate Justice from 1981 until her retirement from the Court in 2006. O'Connor was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981...

's July 1 announcement of her retirement, Bush nominated D.C. Circuit

United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit known informally as the D.C. Circuit, is the federal appellate court for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Appeals from the D.C. Circuit, as with all the U.S. Courts of Appeals, are heard on a...

judge

Judge

A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...

John Roberts to take her seat. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist died on September 3, however, and on September 5 Bush withdrew Roberts's associate justice nomination to instead have him considered for the vacant chief justice seat, with O'Connor agreeing to stay on the Supreme Court until the confirmation of her replacement; the Senate

United States Senate

confirmed Roberts's nomination with a 78-22 vote on September 29. On October 3 Bush nominated White House Counsel

White House Counsel

The White House Counsel is a staff appointee of the President of the United States.-Role:The Counsel's role is to advise the President on all legal issues concerning the President and the White House...

Harriet Miers

Harriet Ellan Miers is an American lawyer and former White House Counsel. In 2005, she was nominated by President George W. Bush to be an Associate Justice of the U.S...

to replace O'Connor, but following controversy over her judicial and conservative credentials, on October 27 Miers asked Bush to withdraw her nomination, which he did later that day. On October 31, 2005 Bush nominated Third Circuit

United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts for the following districts:* District of Delaware* District of New Jersey...

judge Samuel Alito

Samuel Alito

Samuel Anthony Alito, Jr. is an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. He was nominated by President George W. Bush and has served on the court since January 31, 2006....

to replace O'Connor. Alito was confirmed on January 31, 2006 on a 58-42 vote. Bush's choice to replace Fed Chairman

Chairman of the Federal Reserve

The Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is the head of the central banking system of the United States. Known colloquially as "Chairman of the Fed," or in market circles "Fed Chairman" or "Fed Chief"...

Alan Greenspan

Alan Greenspan is an American economist who served as Chairman of the Federal Reserve of the United States from 1987 to 2006. He currently works as a private advisor and provides consulting for firms through his company, Greenspan Associates LLC...

, Ben Bernanke

Ben Bernanke

Ben Shalom Bernanke is an American economist, and the current Chairman of the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States. During his tenure as Chairman, Bernanke has overseen the response of the Federal Reserve to late-2000s financial crisis....

, however, won relatively smooth confirmation. Following Bush's October 24 nomination of Bernanke, the Senate Banking Committee recommended Bernanke's confirmation by a 13-1 voice vote

Voice vote

A voice vote is a voting method used by deliberative assemblies in which a vote is taken on a topic or motion by responding verbally....

on November 16. The full Senate confirmed Bernanke on January 31, 2006 by another voice vote, and Bernanke was sworn in on February 1.

Immigration

In response to the massive immigration protests

2006 United States immigration reform protests

In 2006, millions of people participated in protests over a proposed change to U.S. immigration policy. The protests began in response to proposed legislation known as H.R. 4437, which would raise penalties for Illegal immigration and classify illegal immigrants and anyone who helped them enter or...

following bill H.R. 4437

H.R. 4437

The Border Protection, Anti-terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 was a bill in the 109th United States Congress. It was passed by the United States House of Representatives on December 16, 2005 by a vote of 239 to 182 , but did not pass the Senate...

and the subsequent intense debate within and beyond Congress, Bush proposed sweeping legislation that would include a guest worker program

Guest worker program

The Guest Worker Program is a program that has been proposed many times, including by U.S. President George W. Bush's administration as a way to permit U.S. employers to sponsor non-U.S. citizens as laborers for approximately three years, to be deported afterwards if they have not yet obtained a...

, path to citizenship, and increased border security

Border control

Border controls are measures used by a country to monitor or regulate its borders.The control of the flow of many people, animals and goods across a border may be controlled by government Customs services. Security is enforced by various kinds of Border Guards and Coast Guards...

. Bush, who has faced opposition from fellow Republicans on the illegal immigration

Illegal immigration

Illegal immigration is the migration into a nation in violation of the immigration laws of that jurisdiction. Illegal immigration raises many political, economical and social issues and has become a source of major controversy in developed countries and the more successful developing countries.In...

issue, announced on May 15, 2006 that he would dispatch the National Guard

United States National Guard

The National Guard of the United States is a reserve military force composed of state National Guard militia members or units under federally recognized active or inactive armed force service for the United States. Militia members are citizen soldiers, meaning they work part time for the National...

to the United States-Mexico border as an immediate solution. On May 25 the Senate approved bill S. 2611

S. 2611

The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act was a United States Senate bill introduced in the 109th Congress by Sen. Arlen Specter [PA] on April 7, 2006. Co-sponsors, who signed on the same day, were Sen. Hagel [NE], Sen. Martinez [FL], Sen. McCain [AZ], Sen. Kennedy [MA], Sen. Graham [SC], and...

that would create comprehensive immigration reform

Immigration reform

consistent with Bush's proposal. On October 26 Bush signed the Secure Fence Act of 2006

Secure Fence Act of 2006

On October 26, 2006 President George W. Bush signed The Secure Fence Act of 2006 into law stating, “This bill will help protect the American people. This bill will make our borders more secure. It is an important step toward immigration reform."...

, authorizing the construction of a 700-mile fence along the 1,951-mile United States-Mexico border. In May and June 2007, Bush strongly advocated Senate passage of another sweeping immigration reform proposal, the Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act of 2007.
The bill was prepared by a bipartisan group of senators with an active participation of the Bush administration. For this reason, the time of its introduction in the Senate in May 2007 the bill was seen as having a greater chance of becoming law compared with the previous immigration reform proposals. A heated debate, both in Congress and among the public, followed. Most of the conservatives broke ranks with Bush and vigorously opposed the bill, for its provisions regarding legalization of illegal immigrants and providing them with a path to citizenship.
The bill was ultimately defeated in the Senate, when, on June 28, 2007, a cloture motion to limit the debate failed, 46-53, and did not gather even a simple majority, whereas 60 votes were needed for the motion to pass.
In the absence of legislative action, on August 10, 2007 the Bush administration announced a series of immigration enforcement initiatives that do not require a change in law.

White House shakeup

To revitalize the administration with fresh ideas and improve relations with the press

White House Press Corps

The White House Press Corps is the group of journalists or correspondents usually stationed at the White House in Washington, D.C. to cover the president of the United States, White House events and news briefings. Their offices are located in the West Wing....

, Bush's cabinet

United States Cabinet

The Cabinet of the United States is composed of the most senior appointed officers of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States, which are generally the heads of the federal executive departments...

and executive office

Executive Office of the President of the United States

The Executive Office of the President consists of the immediate staff of the President of the United States, as well as multiple levels of support staff reporting to the President. The EOP is headed by the White House Chief of Staff, currently William M. Daley...

underwent what major media outlets and Bush himself have called the White House shakeup. Joshua Bolten succeeded Andy Card as White House Chief of Staff

White House Chief of Staff

The White House Chief of Staff is the highest ranking member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and a senior aide to the President.The current White House Chief of Staff is Bill Daley.-History:...

on April 14, 2006 following the latter's resignation on March 28. Bush gave Bolten his confidence to make staff changes, and Bolten requested that anyone considering resigning soon should do so now. On April 19 White House Press Secretary

White House Press Secretary

The White House Press Secretary is a senior White House official whose primary responsibility is to act as spokesperson for the government administration....

Scott McClellan

Scott McClellan is a former White House Press Secretary for President George W. Bush, and author of a controversial No. 1 New York Times bestseller about the Bush Administration titled What Happened. He replaced Ari Fleischer as press secretary in July 2003 and served until May 10, 2006...

announced he would resign upon his replacement, and Tony Snow

Tony Snow

Robert Anthony "Tony" Snow was an American journalist, political commentator, television news anchor, syndicated columnist, radio host, musician, and the third White House Press Secretary under President George W. Bush. Snow also worked for President George H. W. Bush as chief speechwriter and...

took on press secretary duties on May 8. Deputy Chief of Staff

Deputy White House Chief of Staff

The White House Deputy Chief of Staff is officially the top aide to the White House Chief of Staff, who is the senior aide to the President of the United States. The Deputy Chief of Staff usually has an office in the West Wing and is responsible for ensuring the smooth running of the White House...

Karl Rove

Karl Christian Rove was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff to former President George W. Bush until Rove's resignation on August 31, 2007. He has headed the Office of Political Affairs, the Office of Public Liaison, and the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives...

moved his focus to the fall mid-term elections on April 19 but retained his titles and offices. Although those changes received the most attention, Dirk Kempthorne

Dirk Kempthorne

Dirk Arthur Kempthorne , was the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, who served under President George W. Bush from 2006 to 2009. A Republican, Kempthorne previously served as the 30th Governor and as a U.S. Senator from Idaho...

replaced Gale Norton

Gale Norton

Gale Ann Norton served as the 48th United States Secretary of the Interior from 2001 to 2006 under President George W. Bush...

as Secretary of the Interior

United States Secretary of the Interior

The United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior.The US Department of the Interior should not be confused with the concept of Ministries of the Interior as used in other countries...

on May 26, Henry Paulson

Henry Paulson

Henry Merritt "Hank" Paulson, Jr. is an American banker who served as the 74th United States Secretary of the Treasury. He previously served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Goldman Sachs.-Early life and family:...

replaced John W. Snow

John W. Snow

as Secretary of the Treasury

United States Secretary of the Treasury

The Secretary of the Treasury of the United States is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, which is concerned with financial and monetary matters, and, until 2003, also with some issues of national security and defense. This position in the Federal Government of the United...

on July 10, and Mary Peters

Mary Peters (politician)

Mary E. Peters served as the United States Secretary of Transportation under President George W. Bush from 2006 to 2009. She is the second woman to hold the position.-Public service career:...

replaced Norm Mineta, who resigned on July 7, as Secretary of Transportation

United States Secretary of Transportation

The United States Secretary of Transportation is the head of the United States Department of Transportation, a member of the President's Cabinet, and fourteenth in the Presidential line of succession. The post was created with the formation of the Department of Transportation on October 15, 1966,...

on September 30.

Marriage

With Bush's backing, the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment

Federal Marriage Amendment

The Federal Marriage Amendment H.J. Res. 56 was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution which would have limited marriage in the United States to unions of one man and one woman...

was subjected to rigorous debate in Congress. With a 49-48 short of the 60 required for a cloture

Cloture

In parliamentary procedure, cloture is a motion or process aimed at bringing debate to a quick end. It is also called closure or, informally, a guillotine. The cloture procedure originated in the French National Assembly, from which the name is taken. Clôture is French for "ending" or "conclusion"...

motion in the Senate, on June 7 the amendment failed to pass.

Stem cell research

In July 2006 Bush used his first Presidential veto on the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act

Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act

Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act was the name of two similar bills that both passed through the United States House of Representatives and Senate, but were both vetoed by President George W. Bush and were not enacted into law...

, which would have expanded federal

Federal government of the United States

The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...

funding of embryonic stem cell

Stem cell

This article is about the cell type. For the medical therapy, see Stem Cell TreatmentsStem cells are biological cells found in all multicellular organisms, that can divide and differentiate into diverse specialized cell types and can self-renew to produce more stem cells...

research. A similar bill was passed in the House of Representatives

United States House of Representatives

and the U.S. Senate in the early summer of 2007 as part of Speaker Nancy Pelosi's 100-Hour Plan

100-Hour Plan

The 100-Hour Plan was a United States Democratic Party political strategy detailing the actions the party pursued upon assuming leadership of the 110th Congress on January 4, 2007. The strategy was announced before the 2006 midterm elections. Speaker Nancy Pelosi pledged that her party would...

. However, Bush vetoed the second bill as well and the votes in Congress were still not enough to override the President's rejection of the legislation.

School violence

On October 10 Bush held a conference on school safety in response to recent school shootings in Colorado

Platte Canyon High School shooting

The Platte Canyon High School hostage crisis was an incident of a hostage taking and shooting that occurred at Platte Canyon High School in Bailey, Colorado, on September 27, 2006. The gunman, 53-year-old Duane Roger Morrison entered the school building, claiming to be carrying a bomb...

, Wisconsin

Weston High School shooting

The Weston High School shooting was a school shooting that occurred on September 29, 2006, in Weston High School in Cazenovia, Wisconsin, United States. The gunman, 15-year-old Eric Hainstock, that day entered the school's main hallway and fatally shot principal John Klang...

, and Pennsylvania

Amish school shooting

The Amish school shooting was a shooting at the West Nickel Mines School, an Amish one-room schoolhouse in the Old Order Amish community of Nickel Mines, a village in Bart Township of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on October 2, 2006...

Economy

The economy had seen a fairly large growth in Bush's second term until a huge increase in the price of oil occurred and the subprime mortgage crisis

Subprime mortgage crisis

The U.S. subprime mortgage crisis was one of the first indicators of the late-2000s financial crisis, characterized by a rise in subprime mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures, and the resulting decline of securities backed by said mortgages....

went into full swing. In the fall of 2008, the economy suffered its most serious downturn since the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

National security and presidential power controversies

Bush's presidency had been characterized by the unitary executive theory

Unitary executive theory

The unitary executive theory is a theory of American constitutional law holding that the President controls the entire executive branch. The doctrine is based upon Article Two of the United States Constitution, which vests "the executive power" of the United States in the President.Although that...

, which is a vigorous defense of "executive privilege

Executive privilege

In the United States government, executive privilege is the power claimed by the President of the United States and other members of the executive branch to resist certain subpoenas and other interventions by the legislative and judicial branches of government...

", evidenced in such acts as signing Executive Order 13233

Executive Order 13233

Executive Order 13233 limited access to the records of former United States Presidents. It was drafted by then White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and issued by George W. Bush on November 1, 2001...

, which suspends the release of presidential papers, tight control of Congressional inquiries into White House officers such as in the 9/11 Commission

9/11 Commission

The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up on November 27, 2002, "to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 attacks", including preparedness for and the immediate response to...

's interviews with Condoleezza Rice

Condoleezza Rice

Condoleezza Rice is an American political scientist and diplomat. She served as the 66th United States Secretary of State, and was the second person to hold that office in the administration of President George W. Bush...

, Bush and Dick Cheney

Dick Cheney

Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States , under George W. Bush....

, 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

John R. Bolton

to the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

.

Policies of the Bush administration have been criticized for subverting elements of the Constitution, violating treaty obligations, and obstructing justice. The suspension of habeas corpus

Habeas corpus

is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...

for U.S. citizens was reversed by the Supreme Court

Supreme Court of the United States

in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld
Hamdi v. Rumsfeld
Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, 542 U.S. 507 was a U.S. Supreme Court decision reversing the dismissal of a habeas corpus petition brought on behalf of Yaser Esam Hamdi, a U.S. citizen being detained indefinitely as an "illegal enemy combatant." The Court recognized the power of the government to detain enemy...

, 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

Carnivore (FBI)

Carnivore was a system implemented by the Federal Bureau of Investigation that was designed to monitor email and electronic communications. It used a customizable packet sniffer that can monitor all of a target user's Internet traffic...

program for internet surveillance. The policy of holding enemy combatants in a legal status, outside of either due process

Due process

Due process is the legal code that the state must venerate all of the legal rights that are owed to a person under the principle. Due process balances the power of the state law of the land and thus protects individual persons from it...

of criminal prosecution or the Geneva conventions

Geneva Conventions

The Geneva Conventions comprise four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish the standards of international law for the humanitarian treatment of the victims of war...

for prisoners of war, created a legal limbo without a process for adjudication or appeal. The extraordinary rendition

Extraordinary rendition

Extraordinary rendition is the abduction and illegal transfer of a person from one nation to another. "Torture by proxy" is used by some critics to describe situations in which the United States and the United Kingdom have transferred suspected terrorists to other countries in order to torture the...

of an innocent citizen of Canada, to Syria

Syria

, caused an international incident involving kidnapping, wrongful imprisonment and torture. The Cato Institute

Cato Institute

The Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Edward H. Crane, who remains president and CEO, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the conglomerate Koch Industries, Inc., the largest privately held...

, a libertarian

Libertarianism

Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...

think tank, stated in a white paper

White paper

A white paper is an authoritative report or guide that helps solve a problem. White papers are used to educate readers and help people make decisions, and are often requested and used in politics, policy, business, and technical fields. In commercial use, the term has also come to refer to...

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."

CIA leak scandal

In mid July, Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney

Dick Cheney

Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States , under George W. Bush....

's chief political advisors, Karl Rove

Karl Rove

and Lewis "Scooter" Libby

Lewis Libby

I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby is a former adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, later disbarred and convicted of a felony....

respectively, came under fire for revealing the identity of covert Central Intelligence Agency

Central Intelligence Agency

The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...

(CIA) agent

Covert agent

-Covert agents in the United States:As it is used in the United States Intelligence Community, it is legally defined in 50 USCA §426.The definition is subject to judicial interpretation, but a reading of the plain language of that statute reveals that a covert agent can be an employee of the US...

Valerie Plame

Valerie Elise Plame Wilson , known as Valerie Plame, Valerie E. Wilson, and Valerie Plame Wilson, is a former United States CIA Operations Officer and the author of a memoir detailing her career and the events leading up to her resignation from the CIA.-Early life :Valerie Elise Plame was born on...

to reporters in the CIA leak scandal. Libby resigned on October 28, hours after his indictment

Indictment

An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...

by a grand jury

Grand jury

A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...

on multiple counts of perjury

Perjury

Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the...

, false statements, and obstruction

Obstruction of justice

The crime of obstruction of justice, in United States jurisdictions, refers to the crime of interfering with the work of police, investigators, regulatory agencies, prosecutors, or other officials...

in this case. In November Bush ordered that his staff take mandatory briefings on ethical behavior and handling of classified information

Classified information

Classified information is sensitive information to which access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of persons. A formal security clearance is required to handle classified documents or access classified data. The clearance process requires a satisfactory background investigation...

Interrogation

On October 5, 2005, the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, which sought to outlaw inhumane treatment of prisoners by restricting interrogation methods to the confines of the U.S. Army Field Manual on Interrogation

FM 34-52 Intelligence Interrogation

The US Army Field Manual on Interrogation, sometimes known by the military nomenclature FM 34-52, is a 177-page manual describing to military interrogators how to conduct effective interrogations while conforming with US and international law...

passed through the Senate on a 90-9 vote. On December 15, 2005, President Bush announced that he would "make it clear to the world that this government does not torture and that we adhere to the international convention of torture, whether it be here at home or abroad." Bush clarified his interpretation of the legislation on December 30, 2005, in a signing statement, reserving what he interpreted to be his presidential constitutional authority in order to avoid further terrorist attacks. The amendment, which critics said had no power to stop the U.S. military from torturing terrorist suspects, followed years of reports of torture in overseas prisons, such as the abuse

Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse

Beginning in 2004, human rights violations in the form of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse, including torture, rape, sodomy, and homicide of prisoners held in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq came to public attention...

at the Abu Ghraib

Abu Ghraib

The city of Abu Ghraib in the Baghdad Governorate of Iraq is located just west of Baghdad's city center, or northwest of Baghdad International Airport. It has a population of 189,000. The old road to Jordan passes through Abu Ghraib...

prison

Abu Ghraib prison

The Baghdad Central Prison, formerly known as Abu Ghraib prison is in Abu Ghraib, an Iraqi city 32 km west of Baghdad. It was built by British contractors in the 1950s....

. Relatedly, a report of CIA secret prisons in a November 2, 2005 Washington Post article generated further controversy.

In Hamdan v. Rumsfeld
Hamdan v. Rumsfeld
Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 548 U.S. 557 , is a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that military commissions set up by the Bush administration to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay lack "the power to proceed because its structures and procedures violate both the Uniform Code of Military...

the Supreme Court

Supreme Court of the United States

rebuffed the administration on the issue of detainee rights, ruling the military commissions

Guantanamo military commission

The Guantanamo military commissions are military tribunals created by the Military Commissions Act of 2006 for prosecuting detainees held in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps.- History :...

at the Guantánamo Bay detainment camp

Guantanamo Bay detainment camp

The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a detainment and interrogation facility of the United States located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The facility was established in 2002 by the Bush Administration to hold detainees from the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq...

illegal and pressuring the interrogation program to reform.

President Bush on September 6 acknowledged that the United States confines terrorists to jail cells overseas through a secret CIA interrogation program. Conceding the program's wide prior disclosure, Bush noted in a televised interview with CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric

Katie Couric

Katherine Anne "Katie" Couric is an American journalist and author. She serves as Special Correspondent for ABC News, contributing to ABC World News, Nightline, 20/20, Good Morning America, This Week and primetime news specials...

, "Everybody knows that, but I'm now formally announcing it." Bush denied that detainees are tortured but declared the interrogative techniques effective: "I cannot describe the specific methods used — I think you understand why... But I can say the procedures were tough, and they were safe, and lawful and necessary... Were it not for this program, our intelligence community believes that al-Qaida and its allies would have succeeded in launching another attack against the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

homeland", he said, releasing declassified information about intelligence gained from captured terrorists. The president announced the transfer of fourteen high-profile terrorist suspects, including the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks

September 11, 2001 attacks

The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...

and architects of the USS Cole bombing

USS Cole bombing

The USS Cole Bombing, or the USS Cole Incident, was a suicide attack against the United States Navy destroyer on October 12, 2000 while it was harbored and refueled in the Yemeni port of Aden. Seventeen American sailors were killed, and 39 were injured...

and U.S. Embassy bombings

1998 United States embassy bombings

The 1998 United States embassy bombings were a series of attacks that occurred on August 7, 1998, in which hundreds of people were killed in simultaneous truck bomb explosions at the United States embassies in the East African capitals of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya. The date of the...

, from secret prisons to the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp

Guantanamo Bay detainment camp

for trial. Bush called on Congress to swiftly pass legislation legalizing the use of military commissions for trials of terrorist suspects.

On September 21, Bush bridged an impasse

Impasse

A bargaining impasse occurs when the two sides negotiating an agreement are unable to reach an agreement and become deadlocked. An impasse is almost invariably mutually harmful, either as a result of direct action which may be taken such as a strike in employment negotiation or sanctions/military...

on negotiations for legislation on the treatment of terrorist suspects that was formed when Republican

Republican Party (United States)

Senators John Warner

John Warner

John William Warner, KBE is an American Republican politician who served as Secretary of the Navy from 1972 to 1974 and as a five-term United States Senator from Virginia from January 2, 1979, to January 3, 2009...

, the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, decorated Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

veteran John McCain

John McCain

John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....

, and Armed Services and Judiciary

United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary

The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary is a standing committee of the United States Senate, of the United States Congress. The Judiciary Committee, with 18 members, is charged with conducting hearings prior to the Senate votes on confirmation of federal judges nominated by the...

Committee member Lindsey Graham

Lindsey Graham

Lindsey Olin Graham is the senior U.S. Senator from South Carolina and a member of the Republican Party. Previously he served as the U.S. Representative for .-Early life, education and career:...

broke with the party line with Bush's plan announced on September 6; former Bush administration Secretary of State

United States Secretary of State

The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...

Colin Powell

Colin Luther Powell is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. He was the 65th United States Secretary of State, serving under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African American to serve in that position. During his military...

also voiced his opposition to the program. In the agreement, Bush made concessions on the harshness of the language but he said it "preserves the single most potent tool we have in protecting America and foiling terrorist attacks." On September 28 and September 29 the Senate and House respectively passed different versions of the Military Commissions Act of 2006

Military Commissions Act of 2006

The United States Military Commissions Act of 2006, also known as HR-6166, was an Act of Congress signed by President George W. Bush on October 17, 2006. Drafted in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision on Hamdan v...

, which Bush signed into law on October 17. It creates military commissions

Guantanamo military commission

to try suspected terrorists and allow the president to determine the legality of interrogation techniques so long as they do not constitute clear abuse of the Geneva Conventions

Third Geneva Convention

The Third Geneva Convention, relative to the treatment of prisoners of war, is one of the four treaties of the Geneva Conventions. It was first adopted in 1929, but was significantly updated in 1949...

.

According to the book Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals
The Dark Side (book)
The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals is a non-fiction book written by Jane Mayer concerning the War on Terrorism, Islamic radicalism, and the "closed-doors domestic struggle over whether" U.S. President George W. Bush should have "limitless...

by Jane Mayer

Jane Mayer

Jane Mayer is an American investigative journalist who has been a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine since 1995...

, 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 crime

War crime

War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...

s.

Manfred Nowak

Manfred Nowak

Manfred Nowak is an Austrian human rights lawyer.Nowak was a student of Felix Ermacora, and cooperated with him until Ermacora's death in 1995. They co-founded the Ludwig Boltzmann Institut für Menschenrechte in 1992...

, the special representative on torture at the UN Commission on Human Rights stated in January 2009 that Bush and Donald Rumsfeld

Donald Rumsfeld

should both be prosecuted for war crimes due to their approval of the interrogation methods used on prisoners at the USA military base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Cheney hunting incident

On February 11 Vice President

Vice President of the United States

The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...

Dick Cheney

Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States , under George W. Bush....

accidentally shot his friend Harry Whittington

Harry Whittington

Harry M. Whittington is an American lawyer, real estate investor, and political figure from Austin, Texas who received international media attention on February 11, 2006, when he was shot by Vice President Dick Cheney while hunting quail with two women on a ranch in Kenedy County, Texas, near...

in the face in a hunting incident

Dick Cheney hunting incident

The Dick Cheney hunting incident occurred on February 11, 2006, when then U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney shot Harry Whittington, a 78-year-old Texas attorney, while participating in a quail hunt on a ranch in Kenedy County, Texas...

. Cheney did not speak about the incident until his interview with Fox News Channel

Fox News Channel

Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...

's Brit Hume

Brit Hume

Brit Hume is an American television journalist and political commentator.For twenty years he was a correspondent for the American Broadcasting Company, including Chief White House Correspondent. He then spent ten years as the Washington, D.C. managing editor of the Fox News Channel and the anchor...

on February 15. In Bush's first public comments about the incident on February 16, Bush said, "I thought the vice president handled the issue just fine. Yesterday when he was here in the Oval Office

Oval Office

, I saw the deep concern he had about a person who he wounded. I thought yesterday’s explanation was a very strong and important explanation to make to the American people.” Bush also stated that Democrats who found the incident suggestive of a White House penchant for secrecy drew “the wrong conclusion about a tragic accident.”

Port security

In February Dubai Ports World

Dubai Ports World

DP World is a major operator of marine ports with 49 terminals in operation and a further 9 under development across 31 countries. In 2010, DP World handled nearly 50 million TEU across its portfolio from the Americas to Asia...

's purchase of Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company

Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company

The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, which is usually known as P&O, is a British shipping and logistics company which dated from the early 19th century. Following its sale in March 2006 to Dubai Ports World for £3.9 billion, it became a subsidiary of DP World; however, the P&O...

(P&O), which operated major U.S. port facilities in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

, Philadelphia, Baltimore

Baltimore

Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...

, New Orleans, and Miami, grew imminent. Bipartisan opposition to the takeover ensued

Dubai Ports World controversy

The Dubai Ports World controversy began in February 2006 and rose to prominence as a national security debate in the United States. At issue was the sale of port management businesses in six major U.S...

, with Senate Majority Leader

Party leaders of the United States Senate

The Senate Majority and Minority Leaders are two United States Senators who are elected by the party conferences that hold the majority and the minority respectively. These leaders serve as the chief Senate spokespeople for their parties and manage and schedule the legislative and executive...

Bill Frist

William Harrison "Bill" Frist, Sr. is an American physician, businessman, and politician. He began his career as an heir and major stockholder to the for-profit hospital chain of Hospital Corporation of America. Frist later served two terms as a Republican United States Senator representing...

and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert

Dennis Hastert

John Dennis "Denny" Hastert was the 59th Speaker of the House serving from 1999 to 2007. He represented as a Republican for twenty years, 1987 to 2007.He is the longest-serving Republican Speaker in history...

questioning the deal and Frist threatening to block it. The White House said that Bush did not know of the transaction until it had been approved by his administration but Bush, who has proposed the creation of a U.S. - Middle East Free Trade Area by 2013, implemented free trade agreements with Jordan

Jordan

Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...

, Morocco

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

, and Bahrain

Bahrain

' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...

and signed one with Oman

Oman

Oman , officially called the Sultanate of Oman , is an Arab state in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by the United Arab Emirates to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the...

, and built relations with such Middle Eastern nations as Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia

, Egypt

Egypt

, and Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

, on February 22 threatened to veto

Veto

A veto, Latin for "I forbid", is the power of an officer of the state to unilaterally stop an official action, especially enactment of a piece of legislation...

any legislation that would block the deal, saying, "It would send a terrible signal to friends and allies not to let this transaction go through." On February 23, Dubai Ports World volunteered to postpone the takeover to convince Congress and the public that the deal would pose no additional security threat to the United States. The company said on March 3 that it would transfer its operations of American ports to a "U.S. entity

United States entity

United States entity is a designation given to some entities , e.g. for International Traffic in Arms Regulations purposes:For purposes of the preceding paragraph, a U.S. entity is a firm incorporated in the United States that is controlled by U.S. citizens or by another U.S...

" after congressional leaders reportedly told Bush of the improbability of Congress's approval of the deal. According to a report on June 19, however, Dubai Ports World still owned and controlled operations at 22 U.S. ports.

Domestic surveillance

Senator Arlen Specter

Arlen Specter

Arlen Specter is a former United States Senator from Pennsylvania. Specter is a Democrat, but was a Republican from 1965 until switching to the Democratic Party in 2009...

, the former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has led challenges to the administration over its stance on the NSA warrantless wiretapping program

NSA warrantless surveillance controversy

The NSA warrantless surveillance controversy concerns surveillance of persons within the United States during the collection of foreign intelligence by the U.S. National Security Agency as part of the war on terror...

, and on August 17 U.S. District Court

United States district court

The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of law, equity, and admiralty. There is a United States bankruptcy court associated with each United States...

Judge Anna Diggs Taylor

Anna Diggs Taylor

Anna Diggs Taylor is a United States District Judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. She graduated from Barnard College in 1954 and Yale Law School in 1957, and worked in the Office of Solicitor for the United States Department of Labor...

ruled the program unconstitutional in ACLU v. NSA
ACLU v. NSA
American Civil Liberties Union et al., v. National Security Agency / Central et al., 493 F.3d 644 , is a case decided July 6, 2007, in which the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that the plaintiffs in the case did not have standing to bring the suit against the NSA, because...

; the federal government subsequently appealed the decision.

Signing statements

Specter and the American Bar Association

American Bar Association

The American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...

have challenged Bush's practice of issuing signing statements.

United States Attorneys

The administration has come under criticism for memoranda and Senate testimony revealing potentially politically motivated dismissals of United States Attorney

United States Attorney

United States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...

s and efforts to use of the expanded appointment powers of the United States Attorney General

United States Attorney General

The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The attorney general is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government...

(permitted by the USA PATRIOT Act

USA PATRIOT Act

The USA PATRIOT Act is an Act of the U.S. Congress that was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001...

) to diminish Senate

United States Senate

influence in monitoring and confirming appointments to vacant U.S. Attorney offices.

Iraq War

Bush remained committed to the Iraq War, acknowledging on August 21 that it was "straining the psyche of our country" and would be an issue in the fall congressional elections, but said that the United States would remain in Iraq throughout his presidency.

In 2005, the Iraq War persisted during a year in which Iraq underwent revolutionary democratic reforms. True to a Bush campaign promise, on January 30 Iraq held its first general election since the 2003 invasion of Iraq

2003 invasion of Iraq

The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...

, in which the Iraqi people voted on

Iraqi legislative election, January 2005

Elections for the National Assembly of Iraq were held on January 30, 2005 in Iraq. The 275-member National Assembly was a parliament created under the Transitional Law during the Occupation of Iraq...

representatives

Legislature

A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...

for the Iraqi National Assembly. On December 15, Iraqis elected

Iraqi legislative election, December 2005

Following the ratification of the Constitution of Iraq on 15 October 2005, a general election was held on 15 December to elect a permanent 275-member Iraqi Council of Representatives....

the first permanent assembly under the Constitution of Iraq

Constitution of Iraq

The Constitution of Iraq is Iraq's fundamental law.-History:Iraq's first constitution, which established a constitutional monarchy, entered into force under the auspices of a British military occupation in 1925 and remained in effect until the 1958 revolution established a republic...

, which was ratified on October 15.

But the direction and stability of Iraq remain contentious. In August 2005, during what was termed a 'working vacation' at Bush's ranch

Prairie Chapel Ranch

Prairie Chapel Ranch is a 1,583 acre ranch in unincorporated McLennan County, Texas, located seven miles northwest of Crawford. The property was acquired by President George W...

outside Crawford

Crawford, Texas

, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, Cindy Sheehan

Cindy Sheehan

Cindy Lee Miller Sheehan is an American anti-war activist whose son, U.S. Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, was killed by enemy action during the Iraq War. She attracted national and international media attention in August 2005 for her extended anti-war protest at a makeshift camp outside President...

, mother of Casey Sheehan, an American casualty in Iraq, led a demonstration in opposition to the Iraq War

Opposition to the Iraq War

Significant opposition to the Iraq War occurred worldwide, both before and during the initial 2003 invasion of Iraq by the United States, United Kingdom, and smaller contingents from other nations, and throughout the subsequent occupation...

at the peace camp

Peace camp

Peace camps are a form of physical protest camp that is focused on anti-war activity. They are set up outside military bases by members of the peace movement who oppose either the existence of the military bases themselves, the armaments held there, or the politics of those who control the bases...

Camp Casey

Camp Casey, Crawford, Texas

Camp Casey was the name given to the encampment of anti-war protesters outside the Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford, Texas during US President George W...

outside the ranch, sparking assembly in the town by both supporters and detractors of the war. In Iraq,
Ibrahim al-Jaafari

Ibrahim al-Jaafari

Ibrahim abd al-Karim Hamzah al-Eshaiker al-Jafari is an Iraqi politician who was Prime Minister of Iraq in the Iraqi Transitional Government from 2005 to 2006, following the January 2005 election. He was previously one of the two Vice-Presidents of Iraq under the Iraqi Interim Government from 2004...

, elected the first post-invasion Prime Minister of Iraq in the December 2005 legislative election

Iraqi legislative election, December 2005

Following the ratification of the Constitution of Iraq on 15 October 2005, a general election was held on 15 December to elect a permanent 275-member Iraqi Council of Representatives....

, faced calls for his resignation from Sunni and Kurdish

Kurdish people

The Kurdish people, or Kurds , are an Iranian people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...

Iraqi leaders and the Bush administration pressured al-Jaafari to step down. On April 22, 2006, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani

Jalal Talabani

Jalal Talabani is the sixth and current President of Iraq, a leading Kurdish politician. He is the first non-Arab president of Iraq, although Abdul Kareem Qasim was half Kurdish....

, with the White House's support, named Nouri al-Maliki

Nouri al-Maliki

Nouri Kamil Mohammed Hasan al-Maliki , also known as Jawad al-Maliki or Abu Esraa, is the Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party. Al-Maliki and his government succeeded the Iraqi Transitional Government. He is currently in his second term as Prime Minister...

prime-minister delegate. Maliki presented his Cabinet

Council of Ministers of Iraq

The Cabinet of Iraq is the executive branch of the government of Iraq.The National Assembly of Iraq elects a President of State who along with two deputies form the Presidency Council. The Presidency Council appoints the Prime Minister who appoints the Council of Ministers, all of whom must be...

to Parliament

National Assembly of Iraq

The Council of Representatives of Iraq is the main elected body of representatives in Iraq. It is currently composed of 325 seats and meets in Baghdad inside the International Zone . It is governed by bylaws that can be found -The monarchy:...

on May 20; the seats of Interior Minister

Interior minister

An interior ministry is a government ministry typically responsible for policing, national security, and immigration matters. The ministry is often headed by a minister of the interior or minister of home affairs...

and Defense Minister were not permanently filled until June 8. Along with the death of Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi ; October 30, 1966 – June 7, 2006), born Ahmad Fadeel al-Nazal al-Khalayleh was a Jordanian militant Islamist who ran a paramilitary training camp in Afghanistan...

on June 7, Bush hailed Iraq's national unity government

National unity government

A national unity government, government of national unity, or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other national emergency.- Canada :During World War I the Conservative government of Sir...

. Although Maliki, who vowed to crack down on militias upon stepping into office, presented his national reconciliation plan on June 25, and despite the security crackdown in Baghdad

Baghdad

Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...

begun on June 14 dubbed Operation Forward Together, United States Central Command

United States Central Command

The United States Central Command is a theater-level Unified Combatant Command unit of the U.S. armed forces, established in 1983 under the operational control of the U.S. Secretary of Defense...

Commander John Abizaid

John Abizaid

John Philip Abizaid, AO is a retired General in the United States Army and former Commander of the United States Central Command , overseeing American military operations in a 27-country region, from the Horn of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, to South and Central Asia, covering much of the Middle...

, with the backing of Joint Chiefs of Staff

Joint Chiefs of Staff

The Joint Chiefs of Staff is a body of senior uniformed leaders in the United States Department of Defense who advise the Secretary of Defense, the Homeland Security Council, the National Security Council and the President on military matters...

Chairman Peter Pace

Peter Pace

Peter Pace is a retired United States Marine Corps general who served as the 16th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the first Marine appointed to the United States' highest-ranking military office. Appointed by President George W. Bush, Pace succeeded U.S. Air Force General Richard Myers on...

, on August 3 told the Senate Armed Services Committee

United States Senate Committee on Armed Services

The Committee on Armed Services is a committee of the United States Senate empowered with legislative oversight of the nation's military, including the Department of Defense, military research and development, nuclear energy , benefits for members of the military, the Selective Service System and...

, "Sectarian violence is probably as bad as I have seen it." On September 3 Iraqi National Security Advisor Mowaffak al-Rubaie announced the arrest of second-ranking al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Hamid Juma Faris Jouri al-Saeedi

Hamid Juma Faris Jouri al-Saeedi

Hamid Juma Faris Jouri al-Saeedi is an Iraqi member of al-Qaeda accused by Iraq's government of being "the number two al-Qaeda leader [in Iraq] after Abu Ayyub al-Masri." He was captured during a joint raid by Iraqi and United States forces on June 19, 2006 either north or southwest of Baquba,...

. On September 6 Iraqi National Assembly President Mahmoud al-Mashhadani

Mahmoud al-Mashhadani

Dr. Mahmoud Dawud al-Mashhadani is an Iraqi politician and a former Speaker of the Iraqi Council of Representatives. He was elected to the Council of Representatives as part of the Sunni Arab-led Iraqi Accord Front list....

said that the Iraq must embrace national reconciliation within three to fourth months lest the government fail. On September 7, 8 days after General George Casey said on August 30 that he expected Iraqi forces to take over security operations in 12 to 18 months "with very little Coalition

Multinational force in Iraq

The Multi-National Force – Iraq was a military command, led by the United States, which was responsible for Operation Iraqi Freedom. Multi-National Force – Iraq replaced the previous force, Combined Joint Task Force 7, on 15 May 2004, and was later itself reorganized into its successor, United...

support", coalition forces handed over military command to the Iraq’s naval and air forces and the 8th Iraqi Army Division. On September 19, as Iraqi lawmakers demanded that the defense and interior ministries explain their plans for controlling rampaging Shiite death squads, General Abizaid announced the likelihood of the maintenance of or increase in U.S. troop levels in Iraq through the spring of 2007 or as needed. On September 2 Iraqi politicians agreed to consider a federalism bill that would allow some regional self-rule, as al-Maliki pled for peace a day before the holy Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

month of Ramadan

Ramadan

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which lasts 29 or 30 days. It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex during daylight hours and is intended to teach Muslims about patience, spirituality, humility and...

would began. On September 26, Bush disputed the implications of and declassified parts of a leaked National Intelligence Estimate

National Intelligence Estimate

National Intelligence Estimates are United States federal government documents that are the authoritative assessment of the Director of National Intelligence on intelligence related to a particular national security issue...

report that assessed, "The Iraq conflict has become the 'cause célèbre

Cause célèbre

A is an issue or incident arousing widespread controversy, outside campaigning and heated public debate. The term is particularly used in connection with celebrated legal cases. It is a French phrase in common English use...

' for jihad

Jihad

Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...

ists", that appeared in media reports on September 24; emphasizing the report's conclusion that the Iraq War is central to the "global jihadist movement" as reason to fight the war, Bush challenged Democrats who interpreted the report as saying the war has increased terrorism and decreased American safety. On September 27 a senior U.S. military official said that Iraqi Shiite militias have cooperated with the Iranian Badr Organization

Badr Organization

The Badr Organization previously known as the Badr Brigades or Badr Corps is an Iraqi political party headed by Hadi al-Amiri...

in killing thousands of Sunni Arabs in the country. On October 2, Maliki announced a four-point plan to stem sectarian violence through the unity of Sunni and Shiite parties in his government, as it extended Iraq's state of emergency for a month and the country suffered two massive kidnappings on consecutive days. On October 11, Bush rejected as uncredible a report that Iraqi deaths have totaled 655,000 from the war, and United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

Chief of Staff

Chief of Staff of the United States Army

The Chief of Staff of the Army is a statutory office held by a four-star general in the United States Army, and is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Army, and as such is the principal military advisor and a deputy to the Secretary of the Army; and is in...

General Peter Schoomaker

Peter Schoomaker

Peter Jan Schoomaker is a retired four-star general of the United States Army and served as the 35th Chief of Staff of the United States Army from August 1, 2003 to April 10, 2007. Schoomaker's appointment as Chief of Staff was unique in that he was recalled and came out from retirement to assume...

said that the U.S. military is planning to retain current troop levels in Iraq through 2010. Bush met with military commanders and Cabinet secretaries to discuss policy in Iraq on October 21, a day after saying, "The tactics are constantly changing." On October 24, U.S. officials said that Iraqi leaders have agreed to develop a security and political timetable by year's end and General Casey said that Iraq will take responsible for its security with U.S. support within twelve to eighteen months. On October 25, Bush said that he was not satisfied with the situation in Iraq and "The ultimate accountability rests with me. If people are unhappy about it, look right to the president", but "absolutely we're winning" the Iraq War. On October 28, hours after a Maliki aide quote the Iraqi prime minister as saying, "I am not America's man in Iraq", Bush and Maliki said they were "committed to the partnership" and agreed in the goals of speeding up the training, Iraqi control, and national control of security of Iraq's security forces. On November 5, former President of Iraq

President of Iraq

The President of Iraq is the head of state of Iraq and "safeguards the commitment to the Constitution and the preservation of Iraq's independence, sovereignty, unity, the security of its territories in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution." The President is elected by the Council of...

Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...

, who had been tried for murdering 143 Shiites from Dujail

Dujail

Dujail is a small Shia town in the Salah ad Din Governorate. It is situated about north of Iraq's capital, Baghdad, and has approximately 10,000 inhabitants. It is the site of the 1982 Dujail Massacre....

in retaliation

Retributive justice

Retributive justice is a theory of justice that considers that punishment, if proportionate, is a morally acceptable response to crime, with an eye to the satisfaction and psychological benefits it can bestow to the aggrieved party, its intimates and society....

for the failed assassination attempt against him of July 8, 1982, was sentenced to death for crimes against humanity. Bush hailed the conviction, saying, "Saddam Hussein's trial is a milestone in the Iraqi people

Iraqi people

The Iraqi people or Mesopotamian people are natives or inhabitants of the country of Iraq, known since antiquity as Mesopotamia , with a large diaspora throughout the Arab World, Europe, the Americas, and...

's efforts to replace the rule of a tyrant with the rule of law

Rule of law

The rule of law, sometimes called supremacy of law, is a legal maxim that says that governmental decisions should be made by applying known principles or laws with minimal discretion in their application...

-- it's a major achievement for Iraq's young democracy and its constitutional government

Government

Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...

. A series of attacks in Sadr City on November 23 killed at least 215 people and injured 257 others, making it the deadliest attack in the Iraq War's history.

Bush participated in a flurry of activity on the war weeks after the mid-term elections. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld

Donald Rumsfeld

resigned on November 8 in the immediate aftermath of the elections, to be replaced by Robert Gates

Robert Gates

, whose term will begin on December 18. Gates has said in his confirmation hearings that he will continue to try to transform the U.S. military into a light, robust force to deal with 21st century changes and has been open to significant changes to U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and Iraq. According to a report by The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

on December 2, Rumsfeld wrote a classified dated November 6 that also said current U.S. strategy in Iraq is not working and requires major adjustments. On November 29, thirty Parliament lawmakers and six Cabinet ministers loyal to Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr

Muqtada al-Sadr

Sayyid Muqtadā al-Ṣadr is an Iraqi Islamic political leader.Along with Ali al-Sistani and Ammar al-Hakim of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, Sadr is one of the most influential religious and political figures in the country not holding any official title in the Iraqi government.-Titles:He is...

boycotted the Iraq government to protest a planned meeting between Bush and Maliki that day; Maliki called on an end to the boycott on November 30. Bush and Maliki met in Amman

Amman

Amman is the capital of Jordan. It is the country's political, cultural and commercial centre and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The Greater Amman area has a population of 2,842,629 as of 2010. The population of Amman is expected to jump from 2.8 million to almost...

, Jordan

Jordan

for crisis talks but a three-way dinner between the leaders and Jordan's King Abdullah

Abdullah II of Jordan

Abdullah II ibn al-Hussein is the reigning King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. He ascended the throne on 7 February 1999 after the death of his father King Hussein. King Abdullah, whose mother is Princess Muna al-Hussein, is a member of the Hashemite family...

was cancelled, reportedly because of a November 8 memo by National Security Advisor

National Security Advisor (United States)

The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, commonly referred to as the National Security Advisor , serves as the chief advisor to the President of the United States on national security issues...

Stephen Hadley

Stephen John Hadley was the 21st U.S. Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs , serving under President George W. Bush....

leaked by The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

expressing doubts about Maliki's ability to rein in Iraq's militias and secure the country. Bush and Maliki met with Abdullah separately, who was concerned about Iran's growing influence in Iraq. During the meeting between Bush and Maliki on November 30, Maliki said that Iraq would be able to assume command of its security forces by June 2007, Bush agreed to speed up the turnover of responsibility for security, and both leaders agreed that Iraq not be partitioned. Reports would surface that the Iraq government is in talks to replace Maliki and bring in a coalition against al-Sadr, but the White House has denied a bid to oust the Iraqi PM. Bush met with Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq

Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq

The Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq is an Iraqi political party. Its political support comes from the country's Shi'a Muslim community. Prior to his assassination in August 2003, SCIRI was led by Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim; afterwards it was led by the ayatollah's brother, Abdul Aziz...

. On December 5 Maliki, who had rejected UN Secretary General Kofi Annan

Kofi Annan

Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...

's request for a peace conference on Iraq because it would have been held outside the country, said Iraq would hold a regional conference with its neighbors, a development the White House welcomed. On December 6, the Iraq Study Group

Iraq Study Group

released its Report

Iraq Study Group Report

The Iraq Study Group Report: The Way Forward – A New Approach is the report of the Iraq Study Group, as mandated by the United States Congress. It is an assessment of the state of the war in Iraq as of December 6, 2006, when the ISG released the report to the public on the Internet and as a...

, which called for conditional phased withdrawal of U.S. troops, a conditional American transition from a leading to a supporting role, and for talks with Iraqi neighbors Iran, with which Iraq signed a security agreement on November 29, and Syria

Syria

; Talibani decried the report on December 10. Bush met with Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, who asked for a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, on December 12. Bush, who has acknowledged the grave situation in Iraq, said on December 13 that he would not rush to make a decision for a "new way forward" there.

A CNN report noted that the U.S. led interim government, the Coalition Provisional Authority

Coalition Provisional Authority

The Coalition Provisional Authority was established as a transitional government following the invasion of Iraq by the United States and its allies, members of the Multi-National Force – Iraq which was formed to oust the government of Saddam Hussein in 2003...

lasting until 2004 in Iraq had lost $8,800,000,000 in the Development Fund for Iraq

Development Fund for Iraq

In May 2003, following the invasion of Iraq in March of that year, the Central Bank of Iraq-Development Fund for Iraq account was created at the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of New York at the request of the Coalition Provisional Authority Administrator...

. An inspector generals report mentioned that "'Severe inefficiencies and poor management' by the Coalition Provisional Authority would leave no guarantee that the money was properly used," Stuart W. Bowen Jr., director of the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, said.

War in Afghanistan

Bush also continued to stress the priority of the Afghanistan War

War in Afghanistan (2001–present)

The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001, as the armed forces of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Afghan United Front launched Operation Enduring Freedom...

, on September 29 declaring, "As Afghans have braved the terrorists and claimed their freedom, we've helped them, and we will continue to help them. It's in our interests that we help this young democracy survive and grow strong." Nevertheless, the February arrest of Abdul Rahman

Abdul Rahman (convert)

Abdul Rahman was an Afghan citizen who was arrested in February 2006 and threatened with the death penalty for converting to Christianity. On March 26, 2006, under heavy pressure from foreign governments, the court returned his case to prosecutors, citing "investigative gaps". He was released...

, a convert from Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

to Christianity

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

, offered a sobering look at Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

's stunted social and democratic reforms. Although the Afghan court, under international pressure, notably including that from the Bush administration, turned over the case to prosecutors on March 26 and released Rahman on March 27, the arrest exhibited a lingering conflict between the Constitution of Afghanistan

Constitution of Afghanistan

The Constitution of Afghanistan is the supreme law of the state Afghanistan, which serves as the legal framework between the Afghan government and the Afghan citizens...

's recognition of freedom of religion

Freedom of religion

Freedom of religion is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance; the concept is generally recognized also to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any...

, albeit limited, and its inclusion of the Hanafi

Hanafi

The Hanafi school is one of the four Madhhab in jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. The Hanafi madhhab is named after the Persian scholar Abu Hanifa an-Nu‘man ibn Thābit , a Tabi‘i whose legal views were preserved primarily by his two most important disciples, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani...

school of Islamic jurisprudence, which stipulates the death penalty for apostasy

Apostasy

Apostasy , 'a defection or revolt', from ἀπό, apo, 'away, apart', στάσις, stasis, 'stand, 'standing') is the formal disaffiliation from or abandonment or renunciation of a religion by a person. One who commits apostasy is known as an apostate. These terms have a pejorative implication in everyday...

. In response to the ongoing Taliban insurgency

Taliban insurgency

The Taliban insurgency took root shortly after the group's fall from power following the 2001 war in Afghanistan. The Taliban continue to attack Afghan, U.S., and other ISAF troops and many terrorist incidents attributable to them have been registered. The war has also spread over the southern and...

, the U.S.-led coalition launched Operation Mountain Thrust

Operation Mountain Thrust

Operation Mountain Thrust was a Canadian and Afghan-led operation in the war in Afghanistan, with more than 2,300 U.S., 3,300 British troops, 2,200 Canadian troops, about 3,500 Afghan soldiers and large air support...

from about May 15 to July 31. With North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces assuming control of the region on August 1, violence continued to wage and American forces remained in the eastern provinces. Bush said that the Taliban, whose refusal to cooperate against al-Qaeda he said led to Operation Enduring Freedom, "understand that the arrival of Afghan and coalition forces in the region means that the government is beginning to win the hearts of the people", and "saw the transfer of the region from the United States to NATO control as a window of opportunity." NATO-led forces began Operation Medusa

Operation Medusa

Operation Medusa was a Canadian-led offensive by major elements of the International Security Assistance Force, Afghan National Army and an A-Team from the 3rd Special Forces Group, as part of the ongoing war in Afghanistan. It aimed to establish government control over an area of Kandahar...

on September 2 to route out insurgents in the Panjwaye

Panjwaye District

Panjwai is a district in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. It is known as the birthplace of the Taliban. It is located about west of Kandahar city...

and Zhari

Zhari District

Zhari is a new district in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan.Alternate spellings include Zheley or Zharey. The district was created from territories taken from Maywand and Panjwai districts...

districts; the offensive finished on September 17. On September 8 a car bomb

Car bomb

A car bomb, or truck bomb also known as a Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device , is an improvised explosive device placed in a car or other vehicle and then detonated. It is commonly used as a weapon of assassination, terrorism, or guerrilla warfare, to kill the occupants of the vehicle,...

in the capital of Kabul

Kabul

Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...

killed sixteen people, the highest death toll from a suicide attack since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. On September 10 Provincial Governor Hakim Taniwal of Paktia was assassinated by a suicide bomber on the same day that NATO said it made its biggest offensive against the Taliban, killing nearly 100 insurgents. Operation Mountain Fury

Operation Mountain Fury

Operation Mountain Fury was a NATO-led operation begun on September 16, 2006 as a follow up operation to Operation Medusa, to clear Taliban rebels from the eastern provinces of Afghanistan...

was launched on September 16 to route out insurgents in Afghanistan's eastern provinces. Yet amid what international news reports, partisan and nonpartisan think tanks, the U.S. military, and the Afghan government

Politics of Afghanistan

The politics of Afghanistan consists of the Council of Ministers and the National Assembly, with a president serving as the head of state and commander-in-chief of the military. The nation is currently led by the Karzai administration under President Hamid Karzai who is backed by two vice...

have called a Taliban resurgence, Bush said that the Afghan National Police "have faced problems with corruption and substandard leadership", but "as the police become more capable, and better led, and more disciplined, they will gain legitimacy and they will earn the respect of the Afghan people." Underscoring the delicate security situation in Afghanistan, British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

General

General (United Kingdom)

General is currently the highest peace-time rank in the British Army and Royal Marines. It is subordinate to the Army rank of Field Marshal, has a NATO-code of OF-9, and is a four-star rank....

David Richards

David Richards (general)

General Sir David Julian Richards, GCB, CBE, DSO, ADC Gen is a senior British Army officer, currently the Chief of the Defence Staff, the professional head of the British Armed Forces. He succeeded Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup in this role on 29 October 2010...

, who commands NATO's International Security Assistance Force

International Security Assistance Force

The International Security Assistance Force is a NATO-led security mission in Afghanistan established by the United Nations Security Council on 20 December 2001 by Resolution 1386 as envisaged by the Bonn Agreement...

, said on October 8, "By this time next year I would understand if a lot of Afghans, down in the south in particular, said to us all, 'Listen, you're failing year after year at delivering the improvements which you have promised to us. And if you don't do something about it,' that 70 percent or so will start saying, 'Come on, we'd rather have the Taliban,'" adding, "We're at a tipping point" and "next year could be much better."

Afghani-Pakistani relations are critically important to the War in Afghanistan. On September 22, Bush held a joint conference with Pakistan

Pakistan

i President

President of Pakistan

The President of Pakistan is the head of state, as well as figurehead, of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Recently passed an XVIII Amendment , Pakistan has a parliamentary democratic system of government. According to the Constitution, the President is chosen by the Electoral College to serve a...

Pervez Musharraf

Pervez Musharraf , is a retired four-star general who served as the 13th Chief of Army Staff and tenth President of Pakistan as well as tenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Musharraf headed and led an administrative military government from October 1999 till August 2007. He ruled...

in which the presidents hailed their alliance in the War on Terror but sidestepped Musharraf's claim made on September 21 that the U.S. threatened to bomb Pakistan "back to the Stone Age

Stone Age

The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...

" if the country did not aide the U.S. in the global conflict. On September 24, Afghan

Afghanistan

President

President of Afghanistan

Afghanistan has only been a republic between 1973 and 1992 and from 2001 onwards. Before 1973, it was a monarchy that was governed by a variety of kings, emirs or shahs...

Hamid Karzai

Hamid Karzai, GCMG is the 12th and current President of Afghanistan, taking office on 7 December 2004. He became a dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001...

said that if the money spent on the Iraq War went to Afghanistan, his country would "be in heaven in less than one year". The presidential neighbors' comments came ahead of a September 26 three-way talk between the heads of state.

Iran

Iran has drawn international attention through what has been called the Iranian nuclear crisis, announcing on April 11, 2006 that it had enriched uranium and on August 26, five days before the Security Council's August 31 deadline for Iran to abandon its nuclear program or risk facing economic and political sanctions, inaugurated a heavy-water nuclear reactor. On August 31, the UN declared that Iran had not complied with the deadline, while Iran reiterated its interest in reopening talks. On December 23, the Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 1737

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1737

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1737 was unanimously passed by the United Nations Security Council on 23 December 2006.The resolution, sponsored by France, Germany and the United Kingdom, imposed sanctions against Iran for failing to stop its uranium enrichment program following...

imposing sanctions on Iran for its nuclear program. In response, Iran said hours later that it would install 3,000 centrifuges in a uranium enrichment plant for what it continues to insist is civilian purposes.

North Korea

North Korea launched missile tests

North Korean missile test, 2006

Two rounds of North Korean missile tests were conducted on July 5, 2006. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea reportedly fired at least seven separate missiles...

on July 5, leading to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1695

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1695

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1695, adopted unanimously on July 15, 2006, after recalling resolutions 825 and 1540 concerning North Korea and the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction respectively, the Council banned the selling of material that would further the ability...

. The country said on October 3, "The U.S. extreme threat of a nuclear war

Nuclear warfare

Nuclear warfare, or atomic warfare, is a military conflict or political strategy in which nuclear weaponry is detonated on an opponent. Compared to conventional warfare, nuclear warfare can be vastly more destructive in range and extent of damage...

and sanctions

International sanctions

International sanctions are actions taken by countries against others for political reasons, either unilaterally or multilaterally.There are several types of sanctions....

and pressure compel the DPRK

North Korea

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...

to conduct a nuclear test

Nuclear testing

Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine the effectiveness, yield and explosive capability of nuclear weapons. Throughout the twentieth century, most nations that have developed nuclear weapons have tested them...

", which the Bush administration has denied and denounced. Following North Korea's claimed nuclear test

2006 North Korean nuclear test

The 2006 North Korean nuclear test was the detonation of a nuclear device conducted on October 9, 2006 by North Korea.North Korea announced its intention to conduct a test on October 3, six days prior, and in doing so became the first nation to give warning of its first nuclear test...

on October 9 (it was confirmed by the Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte

John Negroponte

John Dimitri Negroponte is an American diplomat. He is currently a research fellow and lecturer in international affairs at Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs...

's office on October 16), Bush said, "The United States condemns this provocative act. Once again North Korea has defied the will of the international community, and the international community will respond." Indeed, other Security Council members and neighbors of North Korea were quick to release statements of their own. On October 11, Bush said that the United States will seek to severely punish but not attack North Korea, shortly after Kim Jong-il

Kim Jong-il

Kim Jong-il, also written as Kim Jong Il, birth name Yuri Irsenovich Kim born 16 February 1941 or 16 February 1942 , is the Supreme Leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea...

has said he will consider any further provocation by the U.S. an act of war. On October 14, the Security Council voted unanimously to sanction North Korea for the claimed test; North Korea immediately rejected the UN resolution

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1718

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1718 was adopted unanimously by the United Nations Security Council on October 14, 2006. The resolution, passed under Chapter VII, Article 41, of the UN Charter, imposes a series of economic and commercial sanctions on the Democratic People's Republic of...

. On October 31 North Korea agreed to join six-party talks

Six-party talks

The six-party talks aim to find a peaceful resolution to the security concerns as a result of the North Korean nuclear weapons program.There has been a series of meetings with six participating states:* The Democratic People's Republic of Korea ;...

; of the diplomatic breakthrough Bush said, "I am pleased and I want to thank the Chinese

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

." On October 10, 2008, Bush dropped North Korea from the U.S's official list of state sponsors of terrorism because he felt that North Korea was complying with verification of its nuclear weapons checks.

Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Hamas

Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...

's refusal to comply with the demand of the U.S., Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

, and the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

to disarm, recognize Israel, and denounce terror following the group's winning a majority of seats in the January Palestinian legislative election

Palestinian legislative election, 2006

On January 25, 2006, elections were held for the Palestinian Legislative Council , the legislature of the Palestinian National Authority . Notwithstanding the 2005 municipal elections and the January 9, 2005 presidential election, this was the first election to the PLC since 1996; subsequent...

and the return to violence between it and Israel months later inflamed the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Israeli-Palestinian conflict

The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The conflict is wide-ranging, and the term is also used in reference to the earlier phases of the same conflict, between Jewish and Zionist yishuv and the Arab population living in Palestine under Ottoman or...

and detracted from the road map for peace

Road map for peace

The roadmap for peace or "road map" for peace is a plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict proposed by a "quartet" of international entities: the United States, the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations. The principles of the plan, originally drafted by U.S. Foreign Service...

, which was first proposed by Bush. Yet the Bush administration still considers Palestinian National Authority

Palestinian National Authority

The Palestinian Authority is the administrative organization established to govern parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip...

President

President of the Palestinian National Authority

The President of the Palestinian National Authority is the highest-ranking political position in the Palestinian National Authority ....

Mahmoud Abbas

Mahmoud Abbas , also known by the kunya Abu Mazen , has been the Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation since 11 November 2004 and became President of the Palestinian National Authority on 15 January 2005 on the Fatah ticket.Elected to serve until 9 January 2009, he unilaterally...

a peace partner. In a September 20 meeting with the Palestinian leader, Bush called Abbas, who was unsuccessfully trying to form a coalition government

Coalition government

A coalition government is a cabinet of a parliamentary government in which several political parties cooperate. The usual reason given for this arrangement is that no party on its own can achieve a majority in the parliament...

with Hamas that met the Quartet's

Quartet on the Middle East

The Quartet on the Middle East, sometimes called the Diplomatic Quartet or Madrid Quartet or simply the Quartet, is a foursome of nations and international and supranational entities involved in mediating the peace process in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Quartet are the United Nations, the...

demands for peace and recognition of Israel, a "man of peace".

Israel-Lebanon conflict

The warfare

2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict

The 2006 Lebanon War, also called the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War and known in Lebanon as the July War #Other uses|Tammūz]]) and in Israel as the Second Lebanon War , was a 34-day military conflict in Lebanon, northern Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories. The principal parties were Hezbollah...

between Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

and Lebanon

Lebanon

Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...

disturbed the attention on the Iranian nuclear crisis. President Bush supported the Israelis on the basis that Hezbollah, which the U.S. considers a terrorist organization, started the fight and Israel had the right to defend itself and live in peace. To this end, Bush and Secretary of State

United States Secretary of State

Condoleezza Rice

resisted UN and international efforts to reach an immediate ceasefire, desiring a sustaining resolution to the conflict and not a return to the status quo

Status quo

Statu quo, a commonly used form of the original Latin "statu quo" – literally "the state in which" – is a Latin term meaning the current or existing state of affairs. To maintain the status quo is to keep the things the way they presently are...

. Bush and Rice demanded an international peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon as a precondition to the end of the fighting, and repeated that Iran

Iran

and Syria

Syria

must stop funding or otherwise sponsoring Hezbollah. This strong stance created a rift among Arab

Arab

Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...

leaders, especially Jordan

Jordan

, Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia

and Egypt

Egypt

due to domestic pressure to support Hezbollah. The issue also created a breakage between some European allies, especially France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, although United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 is a resolution that was intended to resolve the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict.It was unanimously approved by the United Nations Security Council on 11 August 2006. The Lebanese cabinet, which includes two members of Hezbollah, unanimously approved the...

, unanimously approved on August 11 to end the fighting and approved respectively by the Lebanese and Israeli governments on August 12 and August 13 with Hezbollah's support, was based on a draft initially proposed by the United States and France.

Global literacy

Bush on September 18, 2006 spoke at the White House Conference on Literacy

Literacy

Literacy has traditionally been described as the ability to read for knowledge, write coherently and think critically about printed material.Literacy represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from print...

, hosted in New York

New York City

by First Lady Laura Bush, at which he said, "The simple act of teaching a child to read or an adult to read has the capacity to transform nations and yield the peace we all want. You can't realize the blessings of liberty if you can't read a ballot

Ballot

A ballot is a device used to record choices made by voters. Each voter uses one ballot, and ballots are not shared. In the simplest elections, a ballot may be a simple scrap of paper on which each voter writes in the name of a candidate, but governmental elections use pre-printed to protect the...

UN speech

In a speech before the United Nations General Assembly on September 19, 2006, Bush, while challenging the Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

to push for reform and choose freedom over extremism

Islamic fundamentalism

Islamic fundamentalism is a term used to describe religious ideologies seen as advocating a return to the "fundamentals" of Islam: the Quran and the Sunnah. Definitions of the term vary. According to Christine L...

, sought to reassure Muslims that the West

Western world

The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...

is not at war with Islam but "respect[s]" the religion and wants peace, and Iraqis of the American commitment to their security. He also pressed the Iranian government to end its nuclear program, addressing his concerns also to the Iranian people. Explaining that a peaceful and liberated Middle East not only builds Western security but also passes onto the region's people the blessings of liberty, Bush said that democratic transformations take time, the extent to which he admitted a miscalculation, saying "the stability we thought we saw in the Middle East was a mirage". The speech came at a challenging time for the United States in the court of world opinion and was greeted with both receptive and politically charged reactions, notably Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez

Hugo Chávez

Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías is the 56th and current President of Venezuela, having held that position since 1999. He was formerly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when he became the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela...

's speech on September 20 in which he called Bush "the devil".

External links

CNN Special Report on Bush's Second Term

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.