George W. Bush in Against the Tide, by Lincoln Chafee

On Energy & Oil: OpEd: Recanted on campaign promise of regulating CO2

When President Bush recanted on regulating carbon dioxide, I was witness to EPA administrator Whitman's humiliation on this point.

On Foreign Policy: OpEd: No focus on Latin America despite campaign rhetoric

That summer, George W. Bush said Latin American had been a mere "afterthought" to the Clinton administration. "Those who ignore Latin America do not fully understand America itself. And those who ignore our hemisphere do not fully understand American interests."

The future president's "chief foreign policy adviser," Condoleezza Rice, said his guiding philosophy would be, "You start with strong neighbors and reach out from there."

Despite the "strong neighbors" the Bush-Cheney team had another view. In 2002, President Bush nominated the polarizing Otto Reich as secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs. Reich was a minor figure implicated in the Iran-Contra scandal in the 1980's. After launching the war in Iraq in 2003, the president paid little notice to Latin America.

On Homeland Security: OpEd: Failed to know Al Qaeda enemy, like UK did with Hitler

At this writing, President Bush often points to the words of Osama bin Laden as proof that we need to wage endless war in Iraq, but in September 2001 those of us who wanted to know what drove bin Laden's rage against us were looked upon with suspicion.

Bin Laden had talked extensively about 3 grievances: American military bases the holy sites of Mecca and Medina, in his native Saudi Arabia; the plight of the Palestinians under Israeli occupation in Gaza and the West Bank; and the misery of the Iraqi people living under UN sanctions.

On Homeland Security: OpEd: Resisted 9-11 investigation exposing administration

People forget that the only reason we had an investigation into September 11, as flawed and incomplete as it was, is that the families of the victims demanded it. They demanded it for more than a year before they managed to overcome the president's resistance to opening u his government to scrutiny.

The September 11 families wanted an official account of what happened, how it happened and why. Most Americans did.

Congress mandated an investigation. In a July 2003 interim report the commission complained that President Bush was resisting its investigation while publicly pledging good faith and cooperation. By October of that year, the commission resorted to issuing subpoenas for documents.

On War & Peace: 2002: First president to support Palestinian state

The president unveiled his Israeli-Arab peace plan in 2002. He pledged that America would support founding a Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the "disputed territories" that Israel had occupied since the end of the 6-Day War in 1967.

But the new Palestinian nation was not to be. As in Iraq, the president would make matters worse in the West Bank & Gaza, not better. Over the next 5 years, his actions on the peace process--importantly, his very INACTION--seemed designed to ensure that the Palestinians would not achieve a homeland in the occupied territories.

Some may be credulous enough to believe the president sincerely worked for peace between Israel and the Palestinians; but the only people rejoicing in his policy are the leaders of Hamas and a minority of Israeli clashists.