Inside the Bush White House
"The most powerful leader in the world had called upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility he lost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. So I stood at the White house briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby. There was one problem. It was not true. I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice President, the President's chief of staff, and the President himself."
So writes Scott McClellan, former White House Press Secretary, in What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception.
What, you may ask, was Mr McClellan doing within the culture of deception he describes? By participating in the deception, he acknowledges that he fell short of his responsibilities as a public servant. Indeed. He is now, as you might imagine, persona non grata in the White House. But some critics may wonder why it took a book deal for Mr McClellan to rediscover the integrity. Where is when you need him?
Comment number 1.
At 30th May 2008, MarcusAureliusII wrote:McClellan is a liar. How do I know? Because the Director of the CIA George Tenet who was appointed by the prior Democratic President William Clinton told the President that Iraq having WMDs was a slam dunk. Tenet has not denied it although he has tried to deflect attention from himself by saying that the importance of him saying that was overexaggerated. What a bunch of malarkey. Either Tenet was lying to the President, he didn't know what he was talking about, or the weapons were there but were moved between the time the US should have gone to war in September of 2002 and the time it actually did in March 2003. And why did the US make this stupid mistake of waiting? Because it made the dumb move of listening to the British government which wanted time to protect Tony Blair's domestic political position by getting one more hopeless resolution in the Unsecurity Council. Time enough to move it all lock, stock, and barrel to Syria where it probably still is to this day.
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Comment number 2.
At 1st Jun 2008, offering wrote:Spin or lies whatever, it is not only USA who use these doctors to protect the ruling party. I once heard of a senior civil servant who told a local person that it was his responsibility to protect the minister even if it meant telling lies. I was also told by a former civil servant that they had a writing skill when answering letters that smothered or diverted the complaint in jargon. They even boasted that on occasions they had dampened the enthuasisam of the Big Man when he attacked their services. No wonder the ordinary person seldom takes on the establishment who have the resources and hired skill to defend the empire.
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Comment number 3.
At 3rd Jun 2008, smasher-lagru wrote:Bob Dole says what many of us are thinking:
"There are miserable creatures like you in every administration who don't have the guts to speak up or quit if there are disagreements with the boss or colleagues," the five-term Kansas senator wrote to McClellan. "No, your type soaks up the benefits of power, revels in the limelight for years, then quits, and spurred on by greed, cashes in with a scathing critique."
He continues: "When the money starts rolling in you should donate it to a worthy cause, something like, 'Biting The Hand That Fed Me.' Another thought is to weasel your way back into the White House if a Democrat is elected. That would provide a good set up for a second book deal in a few years."
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