Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House

by Peter Baker

  35 “These three men symbolize”: George W. Bush, remarks, Medal of Freedom ceremony, December 14, 2004, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2004/12/20041214-3.html.

  36 Tenet had signed a book contract: Hillel Italie, “Former CIA Director Tenet Agrees to Book Deal with Crown Publishing,” Associated Press, December 7, 2004.

  37 Tenet put the book project: “Former CIA Director Puts Off Memoir,” Associated Press, March 2, 2005.

  38 “You won’t hear anything about”: Kean and Hamilton, Without Precedent, 315.

  39 “The result would be a train”: Donald Rumsfeld to George W. Bush, memo, September 11, 2004, library.rumsfeld.com/doclib/sp/390/To%20President%20George%20W.%20Bush%20re%20Intelligence%20'Reform'%2009-11-2004.pdf#search='train%20wreck'

  40 “the differences in the opinions”: Yoo, War by Other Means, 183.

  41 “Not only did he read it”: Natan Sharansky, author interview.

  42 “It says what I believe”: Notes of meeting with rabbis and Jewish community leaders, taken by White House official, December 9, 2004, provided to author.

  43 “I’m not calling about”: Gerson interview.

  44 “If there is ever to be a moment”: John Lewis Gaddis to White House, memo, January 2005.

  45 “ought to be a big idea”: John Lewis Gaddis, author interview.

  46 “utterly utopian”: Charles Krauthammer, e-mail exchange with author.

  47 considered it “boffo”: Eliot Cohen, author interview.

  48 “Nobody likes tyrants”: Gaddis interview.

  49 the president suggested a metaphor: Gerson interview.

  50 “John Kennedy could have”: John McConnell, author interview.

  51 “That’s why you don’t show”: Bartlett interview.

  52 “it was over the top in terms”: Powell interview.

  53 “I worried that it would be”: Rumsfeld interview.

  54 “that is kind of a big goal”: Condoleezza Rice, author interview.

  55 “This is not a speech Dick”: Woodward, State of Denial, 377.

  56 his “left-wing daughter”: Cheney interview.

  57 “Unless there were some reason”: Ibid.

  58 “Dan, subsistence, subsistence”: McConnell interview.

  59 “We have seen our vulnerability”: George W. Bush, inaugural address, January 20, 2005, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/01/20050120-1.html.

  60 “Don’t back down one bit”: Hadley interview.

  CHAPTER 21: “WHO DO THEY THINK THEY ARE? I WAS REELECTED TOO”

  1 asked for the duty officer: George W. Bush, Decision Points, 360.

  2 “We’ll see who’s right”: Woodward, State of Denial, 382.

  3 “the haggard capital”: Anthony Shadid, “Iraqis Defy Threats as Millions Vote,” Washington Post, January 31, 2005.

  4 the military recorded 299 attacks: Casey, Strategic Reflections, 71.

  5 “You have to turn on”: Woodward, State of Denial, 383.

  6 skeptics on his team: Senior administration officials, author interviews.

  7 told a Bush aide they: Grover Norquist, author interview.

  8 Senator Mitch McConnell: Al Hubbard, author interview.

  9 “For the first time in”: Hamburger and Wallsten, One Party Country, 201–6.

  10 “create a crisis mentality”: McClellan, What Happened, 248.

  11 While nearly seventeen: In the earliest years of the program, there were actually 42 workers per retiree, but after the program was expanded into closer to what it would become in the modern era, the ratio fell to 16.5 to 1 in 1950 and descended from there. Still, the ratio had largely stabilized in recent years. It had fallen to 3 to 1 by 1975, three decades before Bush would launch his initiative. Social Security Administration, http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/TR/2010/lr4b2.html.

  12 By 2018, the system would: Status of the Social Security and Medicare Programs, 2004 Annual Reports, http://www.ssa.gov/history/pdf/tr04summary.pdf.

  13 expenditures had overtaken: Ibid.

  14 at least $700 billion: Michael A. Fletcher and Peter Baker, “Bush Makes Case for Social Security Plan,” Washington Post, February 3, 2005.

  15 “maximizes the chance of getting”: Keith Hennessey to Senior Staff, memo, “Subject: Social Security Strategy,” January 10, 2005, provided to author.

  16 “By the year 2042”: George W. Bush, State of the Union address, February 2, 2005, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/02/20050202-11.html.

  17 picking five states that: George W. Bush traveled to North Dakota, Montana, Nebraska, Arkansas, and Florida. The Democratic senators targeted were Kent Conrad, Byron Dorgan, Max Baucus, Ben Nelson, Mark Pryor, Blanche Lincoln, and Bill Nelson.

  18 Condoleezza Rice, knew Khodorkovsky: Susan Glasser and Peter Baker, “The Billionaire Dissident,” Foreign Policy, May/June 2010, http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/04/26/the_billionaire_dissident?page=full.

  19 “You talk about Khodorkovsky”: George W. Bush, teleconference with Tony Blair, March 1, 2005. Notes of call, provided to author.

  20 “Don’t lecture me about”: George W. Bush, Decision Points, 432–33.

  21 “Why don’t you talk a lot”: George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin, news conference, Bratislava, Slovakia, July 24, 2005, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/02/20050224-9.html.

  22 “It was fairly unpleasant”: Notes of call, provided to author.

  23 “enemy forces”: Reeves, President Reagan, 164.

  24 “It’s strange for me to say”: David Ignatius, “Beirut’s Berlin Wall,” Washington Post, February 23, 2005.

  25 “This is the most difficult”: Peter Baker, “Mideast Strides Lift Bush, but Challenges Remain,” Washington Post, March 8, 2005.

  26 “he may have had it right”: Daniel Schorr, “The Iraq Effect? Bush May Have Had It Right,” Christian Science Monitor, March 4, 2005, http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0304/p09s03-cods.html.

  27 “Where Bush Was Right”: Newsweek, March 14, 2005, http://www.jadaliyya.com/content_images/fck_images/lebanon/2005-03-14_newsweek_cover.jpg. The headline on the cover was slightly different from the one on the story inside by Fareed Zakaria, which was headlined “What Bush Got Right,” http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2005/03/13/what-bush-got-right.html.

  28 “The second term is going”: Stephen Hadley, author interview.

  29 “What I think happened”: Karen Hughes, author interview.

  30 “Our nation has won two wars”: Christopher Hill, author interview.

  31 “the time for diplomacy is now”: Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, January 18, 2005, Federal News Service transcript. She actually used the phrase three times during her testimony to emphasize the point.

  32 “What it was basically saying”: Rice adviser, author interview.

  33 “that was essentially a declaration”: Another Rice adviser, author interview.

  34 “Who do they think they”: Woodward, State of Denial, 391.

  35 “readjust the thermometer”: Frances Fragos Townsend, author interview.

  36 “You’re allowed to talk”: Steve Schmidt, author interview.

  37 “Here, sit in the hot-wired”: Person in the room, author interview.

  38 “Do I have to do this”: Ibid.

  39 “Bigger, tougher, stronger”: Peter Baker and Susan Glasser, Kremlin Rising (Dulles, Va.: Potomac Books, 2007), 389.

  40 “You’re making many”: George W. Bush, address, Tbilisi, Georgia, May 10, 2005, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/05/20050510-2.html.

  41 landed sixty-one feet from Bush: FBI summary of event and subsequent investigation, January 11, 2006, http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2006/january/grenade_attack011106. Georgian authorities working with the FBI later identified the would-be assassin as Vladimir Arutyunian, an Armenian born in Georgia, and arrested him at his apartment. Arutyunian killed a Georgian police officer duri
ng the arrest. His DNA matched a sample found on the red plaid cloth that had been wrapped around the grenade; he was convicted for the attempted assassination and the killing of the police officer and sentenced to life in prison. Arutyunian admitted throwing the grenade, saying he tossed it in a way that he hoped would spread shrapnel over the transparent bulletproof barrier that partially shielded the podium, but his motive remained a mystery.

  42 “Whatever we need to do”: Reid, Good Fight, 152. A spokesman for Max Baucus confirmed the account in an e-mail exchange with the author.

  43 had fallen from 58 percent: Survey released by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press on May 19, 2005, http://www.people-press.org/2005/05/19/economy-iraq-weighing-down-bush-popularity/.

  44 “The military needs that”: Rice, No Higher Honor, 458–59.

  45 “Human rights trump”: Rumsfeld, Known and Unknown, 635–36.

  46 the “olive branch tour”: Nicholas Burns, author interview.

  47 “That makes sense”: Condoleezza Rice, author interview.

  48 “There certainly seemed”: Christine Todd Whitman, author interview.

  49 “The interagency dynamic”: Kristen Silverberg, author interview.

  50 “very, very focused”: Administration official, author interview.

  51 “I’ve never heard him”: White House official, author interview.

  52 “I thought the vice president”: Frederick Jones, author interview.

  53 “they’re in the last throes”: Dick Cheney, Larry King Live, CNN, May 30, 2005, http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0505/30/lkl.01.html.

  54 “Where did that come”: Meghan O’Sullivan, author interview.

  55 1,330 civilian deaths: Iraq Body Count compilation. Iraq Body Count attempted to track civilian casualties in Iraq by assembling all public reports of killings, from media accounts to hospital and morgue records to official and nongovernmental organizations. http://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/.

  56 366 had been killed: Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, known as icasualties.org, http://icasualties.org/iraq/ByMonth.aspx. Note that this link goes to the page showing all coalition casualties; to get the American casualties requires using the filter at the bottom.

  57 “final acts of desperation”: Dick Cheney, In My Time, 433–34.

  58 “was obviously wrong”: Hayes, Cheney, 477.

  59 “getting really bubbled”: Woodward, State of Denial, 399–400.

  60 “disconnected from reality”: Kevin Whitelaw, “Hit by Friendly Fire,” U.S. News & World Report, June 19, 2005, http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/050627/27bush.htm.

  61 “It was analog, not digital”: Person close to George W. Bush, author interview.

  62 “No one other than the president”: Michele Davis, author interview.

  63 wear a metal bracelet: Peter Baker and Dana Milbank, “Bush Says War Is Worth Sacrifice,” Washington Post, June 29, 2005.

  64 “Like most Americans”: George W. Bush, address to nation, Fort Bragg, June 28, 2005, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/06/20050628-7.html.

  65 “our mission and our goal”: Cannon, Dubose, and Reid, Boy Genius, 296.

  66 “doing something good for someone”: White House summary of the meeting, provided to author.

  67 “There was little support among”: Brian Hook, author interview.

  CHAPTER 22: “WHACKED UPSIDE THE HEAD”

  1 delivering a sealed envelope: Notes from senior administration official, provided to author.

  2 Franks again spoke against: Person familiar with meeting, author interview.

  3 his home-state favorite: Peter Baker, “Unraveling the Twists and Turns of the Path to a Nominee,” Washington Post, July 25, 2005.

  4 “It’s O’Connor”: George W. Bush, Decision Points, 97–99.

  5 “It has been a great privilege”: Sandra Day O’Connor to George W. Bush, July 1, 2005, http://www.supremecourt.gov/publicinfo/press/oconnor070105.pdf.

  6 “What makes this harder”: Toobin, The Oath, 209.

  7 “You’re one of the great Americans”: Notes of call, provided to author. George W. Bush a few days later wrote O’Connor a heartfelt two-page handwritten note. “Your call reminded me of how lucky we are as a nation to have a decent, honest, and brilliant citizen, you, serve the country,” he wrote. “Thanks for a life of public service that will shine the light for others to follow.” Letter from Bush, July 4, 2005. George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, http://www.georgewbushlibrary.smu.edu/Photos-and-Videos/Photo-Galleries/Sneak-Peek-Document-Gallery.aspx.

  8 “He doesn’t quite fit”: Leonard Leo, author interview.

  9 “You can and should do”: Boyden Gray, author interview.

  10 “I don’t like it when a friend”: George W. Bush, remarks to reporters, Lyngby, Denmark, July 6, 2005, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/07/20050706-3.html.

  11 “Sure, I would really like”: Laura Bush, interview on Today, NBC, July 12, 2005.

  12 “I didn’t realize she’d put”: George W. Bush, remarks to reporters, Oval Office, July 12, 2005, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/07/20050712-1.html.

  13 gave each a tour: Michael Luttig, author interview.

  14 “Why would that be”: Ibid.

  15 earlier had issued a ruling: Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, July 15, 2005, http://www.mc.mil/Portals/0/Hamdan%20v.%20Rumsfeld,%20415%20F.3d%2033%20(D.C.%20Cir.%202005).pdf.

  16 also by Bush’s longtime friend: Donald Ensenat, e-mail exchange with author.

  17 Cheney supported Luttig: Administration officials, author interviews. See also George W. Bush, Decision Points, 98. In an interview with the author, Cheney did not dispute Luttig was his choice, saying only that Luttig was “one of the top three candidates we had.”

  18 thirty-nine times: John Roberts, official White House biography, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/infocus/judicialnominees/roberts.html.

  19 “It probably means Roberts”: Gray interview.

  20 “You’re going to love”: Baker, “Unraveling the Twists and Turns of the Path to a Nominee.”

  21 “I just offered the job”: Peter Baker and Jim VandeHei, “Bush Chooses Roberts for Court,” Washington Post, July 20, 2005, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/19/AR2005071900725.html.

  22 “Does your mother know?”: Crawford Greenburg, Supreme Conflict, 209.

  23 “We’re gonna have to grab”: Gillespie, Winning Right, 195.

  24 “Congratulations on Roberts”: Gray interview.

  25 “I’m glad you liked my appointment”: Person present for conversation, author interview.

  26 slipped a veto threat: Barton Gellman, Angler, 351.

  27 News reports revealed: Newsweek reported on July 10, 2005, that Karl Rove talked with Matthew Cooper about Joseph Wilson’s wife, citing the e-mail Cooper sent to editors immediately after their conversation. See Michael Isikoff, “Matt Cooper’s Source,” Newsweek, July 17, 2005, http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2005/07/17/matt-cooper-s-source.html. On July 15, the New York Times reported that Rove had spoken with Robert Novak, who mentioned that Wilson’s wife worked at the CIA and had been involved in sending him to Niger. The paper reported that Rove replied, “I heard that too.” See David Johnston and Richard W. Stevenson, “Rove Reportedly Held Phone Talk on C.I.A. Officer,” New York Times, July 15, 2005, http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/15/politics/15rove.html?pagewanted=all.

  28 “whacked upside the head”: McClellan, What Happened, 259.

  29 simply told the reporter: Rove, Courage and Consequence, 329.

  30 “If someone committed a crime”: George W. Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India, news conference, July 18, 2008, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/07/20050718-1.html.

  31 the 319th day either partially: Jim VandeHei and Peter Baker, “Vacationing Bush Poi
sed to Set a Record,” Washington Post, August 3, 2005. By the time he left office after eight years, Bush had spent 490 days at the ranch, according to Mark Knoller, a CBS Radio correspondent and unofficial White House archivist, compared with Reagan’s 335 days. Bush also spent part or all of 487 days at Camp David, according to Knoller’s count, meaning he spent roughly one out of every three days while in office at one or the other.

  32 they were leather shoes: Stephen Hadley, author interview.

  33 “There was like a hierarchy”: Steve Atkiss, author interview.

  34 devastating roadside explosion: John Kifner and James Dao, “Death Visits a Marine Unit, Once Called Lucky,” New York Times, August 7, 2005.

  35 “That really got him”: Hadley interview.

  36 referring to her as “Mom”: Richard W. Stevenson, “Fallen Soldier’s Mother Vows Vigil to See Bush,” New York Times, August 9, 2005, http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/08/world/americas/08iht-protester.html.

  37 “Don’t let the president”: Joe Hagin, author interview; Cindy Sheehan, e-mail exchange with author.

  38 “We are not going to”: Ibid.

  39 “I sympathize with Mrs. Sheehan”: George W. Bush, remarks to reporters, August 11, 2005, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050811-1.html.

  40 no way the Iraqis would make: Administration official, author interview.

  CHAPTER 23: “THIS IS THE END OF THE PRESIDENCY”

  1 its cruising altitude: Peter Baker, “Vacation Ends, and Crisis Management Begins,” Washington Post, September 1, 2005, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/31/AR2005083101283.html.

  2 “It’s devastating”: Ibid.

  3 “The challenges that we face”: George W. Bush, remarks to reporters, August 31, 2005, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050831-3.html.

  4 “He has to get off his”: Baker, “Vacation Ends.”

  5 “perhaps a little complacent”: McClellan, What Happened, 279.

  6 “The forecast we have now”: Transcript of conference call, August 28, 2005, http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/2413906.