In his new book, former Secretary of State Colin Powell provides what may be the most authoritative confirmation yet that there was never a considered debate in the George W. Bush White House about whether going to war in Iraq was really a good idea.

A smoldering Texas political rivalry broke onto the national stage Tuesday as aides close to former President George W. Bush took potshots at the just-announced candidacy of Rick Perry, who succeeded Mr. Bush as governor in Austin 10 years ago.

Bush's 'Decision Points' Is A Terrifying Journey Into the Authoritarian Mind

Martin Wolfe of the Financial Times discusses how the fiscal theory of supply-side economics did not work under the tax-cutting eras of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. Each saw very substantial rises in ratios of federal debt to gross domestic product. Under Reagan and the first Bush, the ratio of public debt to GDP went from 33 per cent to 64 per cent. It fell to 57 per cent under Bill Clinton but then rose again to 69 per cent under the second George Bush.

Len Hart, the Existentialist Cowboy, argues that "the cost of Bush's war on Iraq passed the one trillion dollar mark some time ago but has yet to support or prove the old lie that 'wars are good for the economy'. Where is the evidence that the $Trillion$ spent murdering and torturing people in a nation that was, in fact, no threat to the United States, has created a single job on the home front? In fact, those $Trillion$ blown up in Iraq are lost forever --not having created a single new job."

The Congressional Budget Office has released numbers closing out the Bush term showing him to be the biggest spender since LBJ. Federal spending from FY2001 to FY 2009 showed an 83-percent increase, which includes defense, domestic, entitlements, and interest. By contrast, total spending under eight years of President Clinton increased just 32 percent.

President Obama’s agenda, ambitious as it may be, is responsible for only a sliver of the projected budget deficits, despite what many of his Republican critics are saying. On the other hand, Republicans favor extending all the Bush tax cuts, which will send the deficit higher. This stance has led the conservative Cato Institute to conclude “The G.O.P. is not serious about cutting down spending.”

Following 9/11, President Bush and seven top officials of his administration waged a carefully orchestrated campaign of misinformation about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

There is nothing new in a government lying to their people to start a war. Indeed because most people prefer living in peace to bloody and horrific death in war, any government that desires to initiate a war usually lies to their people to create the illusion that support for the war is the only possible choice they can make.

Hundreds of false statements on WMDs, al-Qaida used to justify Iraq war

Following 9/11, President Bush and seven top officials of his administration waged a carefully orchestrated campaign of misinformation about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

WHAT ARE national leaders to do when they want to thoroughly discredit another country or mount an attack when a provocation is lacking? "Casus belli" is defined in my dictionary as (1) "an event or combination of events which is a cause of war, or (2) may be alleged as a justification of war." So the time-honored answer is: If you don't have a casus belli, go for option 2 and invent one.

year after the invasion of Iraq, it's now clear we were led into war under false pretenses. Contrary to the Bush administration's claims, Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction and Saddam was not involved in 9/11 or tied to al-Qaida.