The Train Wreck That Didn’t Have to Be | Newsweek Politics

Biden’s New Brief
Holly Bailey 6/26/2009 12:00:00 AM
Vice President Joe Biden's official portfolio is expanding. NEWSWEEK has learned that President Obama has asked Biden to take the lead role on Iraq as the U.S. begins its scheduled drawdown of combat troops, a move that comes as administration officials are expressing concerns about the uptick in violence and political instability in the region.
Friendly Fire at the White House
Michael Isikoff 5/21/2009 12:00:00 AM
Fending off criticism from human-rights and civil-rights groups at a private White House meeting Wednesday, a frustrated President Obama complained about the "mess" he'd been left by his predecessor.
JUSTICE
The Lawyer and The Caterpillar
Michael Isikoff 4/18/2009 12:00:00 AM
In "1984," George Orwell's classic novel on the evils of totalitarianism, the agents of Big Brother break down the will of resisters by throwing them in a dreaded torture chamber known as Room 101. The idea behind Room 101 is to expose interrogation subjects to whatever they fear most. The protagonist in the novel, Winston Smith, fears rats. Confronted with a cage full of rats when he enters Room 101, Smith breaks down and betrays his lover, Julia, as an enemy of the state.
LETTERS
Follow These Two
2/28/2009 12:00:00 AM
War on Words
Michael Isikoff 2/4/2009 12:00:00 AM
In another effort to undo the legacy of George W. Bush's presidency, the Obama administration is searching for alternatives to the term "war on terror."
The End of Torture
Michael Isikoff 1/22/2009 12:00:00 AM
In the first sign of friction within his new administration, President Obama overruled the pleas of senior U.S. intelligence officials and signed a new executive order that bars the CIA from using harsh interrogation methods beyond those permitted by the U.S. military.