President Barack Obama is remembering Iraq. And the world, he says, will remember what the U.S. did about Osama bin Laden and Muammar Qaddafi. All of this has to do with the “red line” — the use of chemical weapons...
Read more »
Photograph by Sebastiano Tomada/Sipa USA via AP Images
FSA fighters clear a room in a newly conquered building along the front line of Sheikh Saeed a highly contested area of Aleppo, Syria, on March 18, 2013.
Obama: ‘Not Doing Nothing’ in Syria
Photograph by Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
Delegates watch a video about former President George W. Bush at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Tampa, Florida.
Bush Revisited: Regaining Lost Ground
“After the most unpopular second term of the post-World War II era, ” pollster Gary Langer reports, former President George W. Bush “has gained in public esteem as time since his presidency has passed – not that the public’s ready...
Read more »
Photograph by Hadi Mizban/AP Photo
People gather at the scene of a car bomb attack close to one of the main gates to the heavily-fortified Green Zone, which houses major government offices and the embassies of several countries, including the United States and Britain in Baghdad, Iraq, on March 19, 2013.
Iraq Ten Years After — ‘Mistake’ Registering Slim Majority in Polls
Ten years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, there is a striking similarity in two polls asking the same question. Was it a mistake? Fifty-four percent of Americans think the U.S. should have stayed out of Iraq, according to the...
Read more »
Photograph by Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo
Secretarty of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, left, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, and White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew, watch President Barack Obama's at the NATO Summit in Chicago.
Defense and Scandal: Reshuffling Top 100 Most Influential in the Field
There’s nothing like a sex scandal to weaken the standing of a Washington power broker. Take David Petraeus, the former CIA director and a retired star general of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. The once-widely admired Petraeus was slated to...
Read more »
Photograph by Danny Johnston/AP Photo
Republican Tom Cotton, left, participates in a debate at Arkansas Educational Television Network studios in Conway, Ark., on Oct. 25, 2012.
Likely Incoming Republican Freshmen Help Vulnerable Members
Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican lawyer strongly favored to win a House seat next week, is donating unneeded campaign funds to Republican candidates in tougher races. Cotton has sent $137,000 in campaign funds to the National Republican Congressional Committee and...
Read more »
Photograph by Robert E. Klein/AP Photo
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, left, addresses the volunteers who helped construct a home in Middleborough, Mass., presented to Iraq War disabled veteran Sgt. Peter Damon, right, and his wife, Jen, by the non-profit organization Homes for our Troops, in this file photo.
Pro-Romney Super-PAC Spends $17.7 Million in 10 States
The main super-political action committee backing Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is spending $17.7 million on two television ads that will air in 10 key states this week. Restore Our Future, which is run by veterans of Romney’s 2008 campaign,...
Read more »
Photograph by Aaron M. Sprecher/Bloomberg
A U.S. military transportation vehicle sits tied to a rail car at the Port of Beaumont upon return from deployment overseas.
Washington Daybook: Clown Questions
The Army plans to slash costs 88 percent to $1.3 million for 400 people to attend this year’s annual professional development conference and exhibition in Washington, which starts today. That figure is more than the $823,000 the General Services Administration spent...
Read more »
Photograph by Andrew A. Nelles/Zuma Press
U.S. Army SFC. Roy Hibbetts of Civil Military Operations Team, Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 4-73rd Cavalry, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, secures the outside of a project site where a school is being built in Zharay District, Kandahar Province on July 28, 2012.
Romney’s ‘Make-Up’ Speech to National Guard Gathering
Mitt Romney has been taking a daily dose of guff for not making any mention in his Republican National Convention speech of the protracted U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq. Democrats also have piled on for his failure in...
Read more »
Photograph by Charles Dharapak/AP Photo
President Bush, right, is followed by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, left, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, center, prior to making a statement to reporters at Al-Asad Airbase in Anbar province, Iraq, in this 2007 file photo.
Obama Invokes Bush’s Wars, Romney’s Tax Cuts as More of Same
President Barack Obama has talked about the mess he inherited. Now he’s talking about that mess in the context of the candidate who wants to replace him as president: “You watched and worried — two wars, tax cuts for millionaires,...
Read more »
Photograph by Adek Berry/AFP/Getty Images
Afghan women and children enter FOB (Forward Operating Base) Jackson also known as Sabit Khadam during seed distribution organized by U.S. Marines Female Engagement Team (FET) from the 1st battalion 7th Marines Regiment in Sangin on June 12, 2012.
Afghanistan, Iran Still ‘Failed States’
After 11 years of war, billions of dollars, and 2,004 American deaths, the U.S. effort at nation-building in Afghanistan shows little sign of success by one measure: The country was ranked even worse than last year in the annual “Failed...
Read more »
Contributors
-
Al Hunt
is a columnist for Bloomberg View and host of the weekly show "Political Capital with Al Hunt" on Bloomberg TV. -
Mark Silva
is deputy managing editor for government news in Washington and editor of Political Capital. He has covered the White House and national politics. -
Emma Fidel
is political editor for Bloomberg.com in Washington. She previously covered financial regulation as a Bloomberg intern. -
Don Frederick
edits political and government coverage for Bloomberg News. He previously worked for more than a decade at the Los Angeles Times' Washington bureau. -
Gregory Giroux
analyzes elections, financing of congressional and presidential elections, political advertising and demographics in Bloomberg's Washington Bureau. -
Julie Bykowicz
covers the influence of money and lobbying in Washington, and covered the state legislature and city crime for the Baltimore Sun for 10 years. -
Jonathan Salant
covers campaign finance and lobbying in Washington. He was president of the National Press Club and started in Washington in 1987. -
Richard Rubin
covers federal tax policy. He worked at Congressional Quarterly and The Charlotte Observer before joining Bloomberg News in 2010. -
Julie Hirschfeld Davis
is a senior political reporter for the Washington Bureau. She covered the 2012 campaign for Bloomberg News and previously covered the White House for the Baltimore Sun. -
Lisa Lerer
covers the White House and covered the 2012 campaign for Bloomberg News. She covered Congress, lobbying and the 2008 campaign for Politico. -
John McCormick
is a national political reporter looking forward to the 2016 presidential campaign, which will be the fifth he's covered. He's also reported for The Des Moines Register and Chicago Tribune. -
Julianna Goldman
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Television. -
Hans Nichols
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Television. -
Margaret Talev
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and covered the White House for McClatchy Newspapers. She has covered California and Florida politics. -
Cary O'Reilly
is Editor at Large at Bloomberg First Word and is Washington Daybook columnist for Bloomberg Government and Bloomberg News.
