Global General

Special

Newsmaker

Asia Pacific

America

Middle East

Europe

Africa

Former spokesman: Bush 'veered off course'

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-05-28 18:47

In the new memoir set to be published next week, former White House spokesman Scott McClellan has harsh criticism for President George Bush and his faction for an unnecessary war in Iraq created by their deceptive propaganda.

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan (L) walks with President Bush after McClellan announced his resignation in Washington, April 19, 2006. [Agencies]

The book titled, "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception", revealed specifics about what President Bush and his advisors dealt with the Iraq war, the CIA leak and Hurricane Katrina disaster.

He explained after the hurricane devastation, Bush's advisor, Karl Rove suggested the President flyover New Orleans when McClellan and another top communications advisor thought it was a bad idea because it made Bush look out of touch. But Rove got his way.

In his book, McClellan says the media failed to make the government more accountable, especially when it invaded Iraq in 2003. "History appears poised to confirm what most Americans today have decided: that the decision to invade Iraq was a serious strategic blunder."

The author criticized the opaque system on how decisions are made in the President's cabinet and hoped "future presidents would be committed to a high level of openness and forthrightness and transcending partisanship to achieve unity."

"The book is about the story of how the presidency of George W. Bush veered terribly off course," McClellan concluded.

McClellan was one of the president's earliest and most loyal political aides. He was press secretary of the White House from July 2003 to April 2006.