Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan writes in a new memoir that the Iraq war was sold to the American people with a sophisticated “political propaganda campaign” led by President Bush and aimed at “manipulating sources of public opinion” and “downplaying the major reason for going to war…”
The book, coming from a man who was a tight-lipped defender of administration aides and policy, is certain to give fuel to critics of the administration, and McClellan has harsh words for many of his past colleagues. He accuses former White House adviser Karl Rove of misleading him about his role in the CIA case. He describes Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as being deft at deflecting blame, and he calls Vice President Cheney “the magic man” who steered policy behind the scenes while leaving no fingerprints.
In a chapter titled “Selling the War,” he alleges that the administration repeatedly shaded the truth and that Bush “managed the crisis in a way that almost guaranteed that the use of force would become the only feasible option.”
McClellan, once a staunch defender of the war from the podium, comes to a stark conclusion, writing, “What I do know is that war should only be waged when necessary, and the Iraq war was not necessary.”
The criticism of Bush in the book is striking, given that it comes from a man who followed him to Washington from Texas.Bush is depicted as an out-of-touch leader, operating in a political bubble, who has stubbornly refused to admit mistakes. McClellan defends the president’s intellect — “Bush is plenty smart enough to be president,” he writes — but casts him as unwilling or unable to be reflective about his job.
Of course, mini-clones still embrace the mistakes and say the war is “necessary and just” and should be continued.
Okay, It is nice to know that somebody else sees Bush the way I see him and that is exactly how I see him. His intentions are good but his on the job performance is a disaster.
That noise you hear right now, is the right wing noise machine spinning up to speed to swift-boat old Scotty there.
Notice how many of these profound (read: after the fact) revelations flowed out late in the Clinton administration. Not.
Oh, how hindsight is an exact science. I have come to the same conclusion on Iraq, regretfully.
I say regretfully, because I wish I would have sooner. It was an exercise in what not to do.
I don’t think they can swift-boat old Scotty. He was too much of a staunch defender back in the days before he found morals, ethics, and a backbone.
Unless he gets nabbed doing the hokey-pokey in an airport bathroom, there’s nothing to swift-boat him about.
Dumbya’s legacy is pretty much written in stone at this point: Liar, cheater, coward.
The only thing surprising about the article is that he claims the Iraq war was “a sophisticated “political propaganda campaign” led by President Bush”
Come on!! Does anybody think Dumbya has the mental horsepower to lead ANYTHING, much less a sophisticated political propaganda campaign? Come on, Scotty! It was Presidents Cheney and Rove. Dumbya never even learned how to speak good English.
See, Bush, Cheney, and the other NEO-CONS shown to be LYING SACKS OF S**T !!! War Profiteers and little else !!! Can you say Halliburton or BlackWater ??? Can only say Congress’s ratings are just as low because THEY FAILED TO IMPEACH THESE CROOKS !!!
Oh, now you tell us.
This just pisses me off. It’s easy to come out now and say this stuff. Maybe if Scott had grown some balls while he was the press secretary we wouldn’t be in this mess. Guess what Scott, you were the one feeding us the propaganda. You are just as guilty as anyone else in the administration. If Obama can’t disown his pastors words (even though in my mind he can) you certainly can’t disown your own words while working for the government.
The man saved us from terrorism. The least we could do would be to have a war for him.
Now, why do people’s consciences smite them *after* they leave? It would be much more effective for them to stand up early. Same thing happened with Colin Powell.
Even McLellan still refers to the “war”.
Calling the invasion and occupation of Iraq a “war” has been a key part of the propaganda, implying that we were threatened by a hostile nation and were simply defending ourselves.
And as long as we continue to call it a war, we feed the mentality that we can’t back down, can’t afford to lose.
What it is, is – a bloody, expensive and ultimately pointless occupation of an oil-rich Arab state that had fallen into political disarray.
Only the first of many such books to come. I wonder if Ari will grow a backbone, too.
Of course, a guy that was sacked from his White House job, and now is promoting a tell-all book, is totally credible and believeable.
The odd thing about all of this is that so many citizens of Iraq keep thanking the soldiers for being there.
Yeah, A jobless guy who just wrote a book. I’m sure it’s all true. He wouldn’t lie to sell books now would he???
#9 – more likely they finally left because of the prick of conscience.
Cripes. The press office at the RNC is already open for biz and buzz, this morning. Your talking points await – nutballs.
The President may be a fool and an idiot but Scott McClellan is a tool. A pox on both of them.
More people seeking to grind axe’s about being out of the loop and cashing in on it while they’re at it?
SHAMEFUL.
You’re making an assumption that there won’t be some kind of “emergency” giving Dubya a reason to refuse to leave office.
I’d like to be the White House Press Secretary. I’d start every briefing with, “You wouldn’t believe what kind of shit these cock suckers are trying to pull now.” And then, of course, I’d open it up for questions.
The most competent thing this administration has done so far in the course of their regime is to “lose” several million White House emails beginning around the time of our attack on Iraq.
#8. “This just pisses me off. It’s easy to come out now and say this stuff. Maybe if Scott had grown some balls while he was the press secretary we wouldn’t be in this mess. Guess what Scott, you were the one feeding us the propaganda. You are just as guilty as anyone else in the administration. If Obama can’t disown his pastors words (even though in my mind he can) you certainly can’t disown your own words while working for the government.”
Exactly, fuck this guy, do not buy his book.
Scott McClellan is just the latest example of how morally bankrupt this gang of boobs and kleptarchs are, even when they seem to come clean with the public. McClellan, for a hefty nonrefundable advance from his publisher (no doubt), is now telling us that the Bush regime depended on lies and propaganda to promote the Iraq War. Presumably, SM promoted these deceptions as press secretary without protest because he left the White House on good terms, but now he’s coming clean…
People like McClellan are worse than useless. They are cultural parasites who refuse to speak truthfully to people in power when they have direct access to said persons, only to profit later through book deals and expensive speaking gigs (always promising to tell us what they “really think”).
Scott McClellan: What a whore…
All of you people voted for Bush, not once but twice! You got what you deserve! Stupid.
So if you write a book, and it is at times critical of Bush and at times supportive, as Douglas Feith did, you will largely be ignored. However, if you bash Bush, and especially the Iraq war, you will get headlines and media interviews, and even a post on this blog. Does this strike you as objective journalism, that you have a litmus test of whether the author is bashing Bush or praising him?
All of this has been obvious for a long time. This book is no revelation to me. Bush is and always has been a puppet president as a mouthpiece for big business and special interests. Of course the White House is in an uproar because everyone that goes to work there has to have their balls cut off first. Where did this guy find a new pair?
Another significant book that has come out:
Blue Planet in Green Shackles, by Vaclav Havel.
What is under threat: our climate or our freedom?
So just how many books do you think he would have sold if he said Bush was brilliant leader and and all around good guy ?
so far all I see is supposition show me facts to back up what he says.
to me this looks like some one needed to retire early by throwing their friends under the train
#24, maybe McClellan realized things after leaving the White House. How would a press secretary be in on all the goings-on?
#25 – A majority voted against Bush in 2000. So you are factually incorrect in saying that we “voted for Bush, not once but twice!” Furthermore, he barely won reelection in 2004. Like #26, there were millions of us who never voted for him once, much less twice.
In a democracy, there’s little we can do except write, protest and bitch against a bad regime when such a regime gains power by constitutional means (i.e., in Bush’s case, by an extraordinary act of the Supreme Court for which we had no peaceful remedy).
Yes a majority elected Bush in 04. Does that preclude the rest of us from speaking out against the regime for the duration of his term? The logic of your statement is vapid.