[The Telegraph, U.K.]

The Times of India, India

McClellan Paints White House As Deceitful Rather Than Bumbling

"This is a damning indictment of a presidency that has been viewed by many as either bumbling or deceitful. If McClellan is to be believed, Bush and his team of advisers were the latter."

EDITORIAL

May 31, 2008

India - The Times of India - Original Article (English)

There's no dearth of people willing to criticize President George Bush and his policies. But when the criticism comes from someone who was a vital cog in the Bush Administration, it takes on greater significance.

That's why the memoirs of Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary from 2003 to 2006, have created such a buzz in Washington and the rest of the United States.

In his book, What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception, McClellan for the first time provides an insider account of the workings of the Bush Administration.

McClellan is scathing in his criticism of Bush and his inner circle. He calls the decision to invade Iraq a "serious strategic blunder" and says that the Bush Administration lacked "candor and honesty."

And McClellan has harsh words not only for Bush, but for close aides like Karl Rove and Dick Cheney. McClellan writes that Rove and Cheney fed him wrong information and encouraged him to tell lies, particularly during the controversy over the leaking of the identity of a CIA operative [Valerie Plame].

McClellan also blasts the Bush Administration's tardy response to Hurricane Katrina, saying it spent most of the first few days in a "state of denial."

Many of McClellan's revelations confirm what critics of the Bush Administration have been saying all along, namely that it willfully misled the American people and the rest of the world to justify the decision to invade Iraq.

This is a damning indictment of a presidency that has been viewed by many as either bumbling or deceitful. If McClellan is to be believed, Bush and his team of advisers were the latter. They deliberately spun a web of deception around the Iraq invasion and a host of other issues.

Not surprisingly, members of the Bush Administration have reacted angrily to McClellan's memoirs. Rove, a key figure in the book, has said McClellan sounds like a "left-wing blogger." 

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

Others have more justifiably questioned the timing of McClellan's revelations. They point out that this was the same McClellan who passionately defended the Iraq War on numerous occasions.

But now that Bush's term is nearing an end, there's the likelihood of others queuing up to distance themselves from his disastrous presidency.

A cartoon in an international news daily captures this possibility admirably. It shows the president's pet dog, Barney, having penned a memoir, with the blurb, "I never liked George Bush."

SEE ALSO:

The Times of India, India

Ex-Spokesman Does 'Hatchet-Job' on Bush

http://worldmeets.us/timesofindia000011.shtml

Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates

McClellan Will 'Come Out the Stronger'

http://worldmeets.us/khaleejtimes000039.shtml

Guardian Unlimited, U.K.
McClellan's 'Other Villain'

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/michael_tomasky/2008/05/mcclellans_other_villain.html

The Independent, U.K.
The McClellan Fallout: The
Devious World of George Bush

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/falling-out-with-the-president-the-devious-world-of-george-bush-835868.html

[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US June 1, 3:55pm]