During the summer of 2006, from her office adjacent to the White House, deputy national security adviser Meghan O'Sullivan sent President Bush a daily top secret report cataloging the escalating bloodshed and chaos in Iraq. "Violence has acquired a momentum of its own and is now self-sustaining," she wrote July 20, quoting from an intelligence assessment.
Publicly, the president claimed the United States was winning the war, and he expressed unwavering faith in Casey, saying, "It's his judgment that I rely upon." Privately, he was losing confidence in the drawdown strategy. He questioned O'Sullivan that summer with increasing urgency: "What are you hearing from people in Baghdad? What are people's daily lives like?"
ad_icon
"It's hell, Mr. President," she answered, determined not to mislead or lie to him.
A pause in fighting between the U.S. and Iran came to a screeching halt after Tehran...
As munitions streaked through the night sky, a plaintive cry like a whale song echoed in...
Washington has reimposed its naval blockade of Iranian ports after the collapse of a planned...
The US has paused strikes on Iran for a second night as top military officials advised...
