Waiting for David
(September 2007)
’m going to wait to see what David has to say,” President Bush declared.
By WILLIAM MATTHEWS
Protecting the chief
(July 2007)
President Bush pulled the plug on Gen. Peter Pace to avoid what Defense Secretary Robert Gates described as a “quite contentious” renomination hearing.
BY WILLIAM MATTHEWS
The GDP argument
(March 2007)
The $716.5 billion defense budget he sent to Congress last month “is staggering,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates conceded to the House Armed Services Committee.
By WILLIAM MATTHEWS
Contractor crackdown
(February 2007)
As they headed to the Baghdad airport in July, two security guards working for the contract firm Triple Canopy say they were stunned when their supervisor declared that he intended that day...
By WILLIAM MATTHEWS
Freeing bolts and gear knobs
(January 2007)
Used to be that Aerospace Industries Association president John Douglass carried around a metal bracket and a length of hydraulic hose. When it came time to speak, Douglass would hold the...
By WILLIAM MATTHEWS
The return of oversight and investigations
(November 2006)
Rep. Ike Skelton said he would revive the subcommittee on investigations and examine contract abuses and mistakes in the conduct of the war in Iraq if Democrats take control of the House of...
Midterm maneuvers
(November 2006)
Election Day is around the corner, and partisans are looking forward to — or dreading — the prospect that Democrats will take control of one or both houses of Congress.
By WILLIAM MATTHEWS
Halloween surprise?
(October 2006)
It’s October, and voters appear likely to turn over control of the House of Representatives and maybe the Senate, too, to the Democrats. So it’s time for an October surprise....
By WILLIAM MATTHEWS
War strategy
(September 2006)
In 1952, candidate Dwight Eisenhower made a vague promise to end the Korean War, and it got him elected president. In 1968, Richard Nixon touted a secret plan to end the war and win the...
By WILLIAM MATTHEWS
Energy gap
(August 2006)
For several years, Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., has warned that world oil production would soon peak, demand will continue to rise and the world will start to run out of oil. This spring, as...
By WILLIAM MATTHEWS
United in relief
(July 2006)
The sense of relief that washed over Capitol Hill in early June was unmistakable, propelled by news that President Bush, in what appeared to be a reversal of policy, favored bargaining over...
By WILLIAM MATTHEWS
Homeland insecurity
(June 2006)
Police and firefighters in major U.S. cities still can’t communicate reliably in a crisis. When airline passengers are screened before being allowed to fly, they aren’t checked...
By WILLIAM MATTHEWS
Shadow budget
(April 2006)
If Reps. Ike Skelton and Neil Abercrombie had their way, or if Sens. Jack Reed and John McCain were writing the 2007 Pentagon budget, the U.S. military would be asking Congress for about...
By William Matthews
Monopoly money
(March 2006)
Besieged by spiraling weapons prices, mounting war costs and acquisition budgets that are unlikely to grow, the U.S. military is searching for savings in the unlikeliest of places:...
By William Matthews
Dis-integration
(February 2006)
The U.S. military foresees a future where its enemies are watched by a network of sensors that feed targeting information to a multitude of shooters who attack from an array of platforms....
By William Matthews
Much ado about QDR
(January 2006)
The QDR is winding down, at last. The Quadrennial Dread Ritual, that is.
By William Matthews
Exit strategy
(December 2005)
On Dec. 15, Iraqi voters go to polling places to elect a parliament. Could that be an ideal time for President Bush to vote, too — with his feet?
By William Matthews
Disaster response
(November 2005)
After four days of submerged neighborhoods, floating bodies, armed looters, toxic flood waters and fetid emergency shelters, the big green Army trucks plowing axle-deep toward the New...
By William Matthews
Tighter budgets await next secretaries
(November 2005)
To a person, Senate Armed Services Committee members signaled support for the two men nominated to be Air Force and Navy secretaries. But after two hours of hearing senators describe the...
Capitol Hill report Card
(November 2005)
To Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., for insisting on an amendment to the Defense Appropriations Act to ban cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of detainees held by the U.S. military. The...