Bush administration scandals

A number of high-profile scandals linked to the two-term Bush, George W.presidency of George W. Bush during the 2000s

The scandals of the Bush administration included the incorrect intelligence gathered to support a war in to Iraq, the seemingly unjustified firing of US attorneys, and the administration’s close relationship with contractors that were charged with a wide range of improprieties and mismanagement in Iraq after President Saddam Hussein’s removal. These scandals directly affected Bush’s popularity and helped foster a Democratic Party revival.

The presidency of George W. Bush (2001–9) was distinguished by a number of key events, most notably the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, an economic recession, and active military operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Amid these events, the Bush administration was embroiled in a number of scandals. Some of these scandals involved the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, while others were related to events in the United States.

Weapons of Mass Destruction

President Bush and his administration believed that the regime of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was connected to al-Qaeda, the terrorist group behind the September 11 attacks, or was at least enabling the group to operate in the remote regions of Iraq. Moreover, the administration believed that long-standing sanctions against Iraq—which were applied by the United Nations to halt Iraq’s efforts to build and use nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons—were poorly enforced and that Hussein continued to pursue a weapons program.

In February 2003, Bush sent Secretary of State Colin Powell to the United Nations to argue for US military action against Iraq. Powell brought with him satellite photos and other evidence that suggested that Iraq was indeed developing weapons of mass destruction. A key piece of evidence the administration presented was a letter, written on official letterhead by the president of Niger, that argued that Iraq was already gathering weapons-grade uranium. This letter, along with other pieces of intelligence intercepted and gathered by American operatives, provided Bush with the justification for forcibly disarming and removing Hussein from power.

However, the Italian Letter, so named because it was intercepted and delivered to the US embassy in Rome, was soon revealed to be fake. In fact, once American troops were in Iraq, their search for weapons of mass destruction proved fruitless; although Hussein hoped to develop and/or obtain such weapons, there was no sign that he was close to his goal. The intelligence failure undermined the credibility of both the Bush administration and the intelligence community.

Compounding the Iraq situation was the Plame scandal. In 2003, former US ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV wrote a scathing editorial in theNew York Times, alleging that the Bush administration manipulated intelligence and information to help justify the invasion of Iraq. Shortly after the piece was published, news leaked that Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, was a CIA covert operative. The leak was traced to the office of Vice President Dick Cheney. Cheney’s chief of staff, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, was believed to have leaked the information as retaliation for Wilson’s comments. He was soon found guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice and sent to prison for his actions.

Firings of US Attorneys

On the domestic front, one of the more significant scandals affecting President Bush’s administration was a series of highly visible firings in the Department of Justice (DOJ). In 2006, eight US attorneys were dismissed from their jobs with little public explanation. However, news leaked to the media that the employees were fired not for any misdeeds or incompetence but because they held political ideologies that were counter to those in the Bush administration.

The DOJ, like any other executive branch agency, had employees who acquired their jobs because they were supporters of the president. However, the position of US attorney (along with other sensitive positions) has long been considered nonpartisan and independent of politics in general, thus fostering an evenhanded approach to the law. If the allegations were true, the case of the US attorneys suggested not only that this tradition was being disregarded but also that the Bush administration had created an environment in which the DOJ was being used to support the president’s agenda rather than to uphold the law.

As more information about the attorneys came to light, the scandal took on an ominous tone. New Mexico–based US attorney David Iglesias, for example, had been contacted by the Republican senator Pete Domenici and congressional representative Heather Wilson to expedite a corruption investigation into Wilson’s campaign opponent (with whom Wilson was in a close race) so that, ideally, charges would be filed before the November election. According to reports, Iglesias did not act in as rapid a fashion as Domenici and Wilson had requested, and White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove interceded. Shortly afterward, Iglesias was removed from his post, while Domenici quickly offered a list of potential successors to the DOJ for Iglesias’s position.

The scandal continued to grow, as more evidence of political gamesmanship came to bear. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was a close political ally and friend of President Bush and, according to observers, allowed that relationship to break down the traditional walls between the White House staff and the DOJ, thereby fostering an environment in which such politically motivated firings could take place. Even the responsibilities of the DOJ seemed to be prioritized according political motivations. One piece of evidence supporting this charge was the fact that, over a six-year period from 2001 to 2006, not a single case of voter discrimination was brought before US attorneys on behalf of a minority. However, voter-fraud cases (about which civil rights groups frequently complained because they often target minority voting districts, from which Democratic votes are more likely) were made a priority. Gonzales resigned in 2007 amid the scandal, while investigations into the firings and the culture at his department continued to reveal evidence of political contamination.

US Contractors in Iraq

Before becoming vice president, Cheney sat in a position of significance at Texas-based Halliburton Corporation. Halliburton is a multinational corporation with subsidiaries operating in a number of areas, including oil-field development and military support. It is in these two fields that Cheney’s former company was given lucrative contracts after the US-led invasion of Iraq. Halliburton provided logistical and supply support to troops in that war-torn country. The company was also charged with helping to reestablish Iraq’s oil fields, which were heavily damaged during the conflict.

Because Halliburton was so closely aligned with Cheney and quickly won these contracts, the Bush administration was charged with favoritism. However, more serious complaints about Halliburton’s activities in Iraq and elsewhere were issued by not only Bush’s political adversaries but also his own military and supporters. One complaint said that Halliburton charged the Department of Defense millions of dollars to deliver meals that were never delivered to American troops in the Middle East theater. There were also charges that Halliburton manipulated the price of Iraqi oil delivered to neighboring Kuwait. Furthermore, in 2004, American and European officials began investigating a Halliburton payment of nearly $200 million to the government of Nigeria; this payment may have enabled Halliburton and its consortium partners to obtain special tax breaks for a natural gas project. By the mid-2000s, Halliburton was under a microscope for its dealings; many senior-level employees were called before special investigating committees, and many others were charged formally with criminal activities.

Meanwhile, another major contractor selected by the Bush administration for work in Iraq worsened the US presence there. Private security contractor Blackwater was assigned to protect certain members of the provisional government in that country, including American ambassadors and personnel. In 2007, Blackwater security guards opened fire on Iraqi civilians, killing seventeen innocent people in a crowded area of Baghdad. The guards claimed that they were firing in self-defense, but investigations into the shootings revealed that there was no threat and that the guards were not even protecting their clients at the time. After the shooting, more allegations surfaced about Blackwater personnel; there were complaints of corruption, brutality, and attempts to cover up evidence of this brutality. However, because Blackwater was a contractor to the State Department, little was done to prosecute the company’s employees or hold Blackwater accountable.

Blackwater’s contract raised major questions about the use of contractors in Iraq. It also undermined the American presence in Iraq, seemingly validating the claims of Hussein loyalists and other Iraqis that US troops were attempting to take over Iraq using heavy-handed means. In the United States, Blackwater’s connections to several key Bush administration officials (some of whom later worked for the contractor) and other political figures suggested that Blackwater was taking advantage of its political alliances while engaging in shadowy activity.

Impact

President Bush’s administration, like those of other presidents, frequently became the target of purported scandal. To be sure, many scandals are the product of political forces working to unseat the incumbent. However, many of the myriad charges against the Bush administration were highly publicized and did not appear to be politically motivated. Among them were the mistakes of the intelligence community with regard to Iraq, the awarding of military contracts to corporations later revealed to be involved in a number of questionable (if not illegal) activities, and the alleged political manipulation of one of Washington’s traditionally nonpolitical agencies.

Many of the parties involved, including senior administration staff, were forced to resign and/or were successfully prosecuted for their roles. Public opinion of President Bush, which surged briefly after the September 11 attacks, trended downward as a result of these and other scandals.

Bibliography

Chatterjee, Pratap. Halliburton’s Army: How a Well-Connected Texas Oil Company Revolutionized the Way America Makes War. New York: Nation, 2010. Print. Outlines both the connection between Halliburton and the Bush administration and the list of complaints made against the company’s work in Iraq.

Eisner, Peter, and Knut Royce. The Italian Letter: How the Bush Administration Used a Fake Letter to Build a Case for War in Iraq. Emmaus, PA: Rodale, 2007. Print. Describes the use of one of the central pieces of “evidence,” a forged letter from the Nigerian embassy in Rome, as grounds for the US invasion of Iraq.

Gibbs, Nancy, and Mike Allen. “A Time to Regroup.” Time 31 Oct. 2005: 24–31. Print. Discusses how the Bush administration reacted to and moved on from its failures and scandals during the mid-2000s.

Iglesias, David, and Davin Seay. In Justice: Inside the Scandal That Rocked the Bush Administration. New York: Wiley, 2008. Print. Written by one of the attorneys fired in the US attorney scandal. Provides his perspectives as an observer and a victim of the firings.

Krugman, Paul. “How Bush Gets Away with It.” Rolling Stone 2 Oct. 2003: 53–55. Print. Describes how, in the author’s opinion, the Bush administration was able to parlay its public support after September 11 and a period of relative economic stability to move beyond its scandals.

Tumulty, Karen, and Massimo Calabresi. “Inside the Scandal at Justice.” Time 10 May 2007: 44–49. Print. Focuses on both the eight US attorneys fired in 2007 for reasons not publicly disclosed and the Bush administration’s role in the scandal.