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Title: Iraq claims burst over White House trail
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Published: May 28, 2008
Author: AFP
Post Date: 2008-05-28 09:39:02 by tom007
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Keywords: None
Views: 148
Comments: 10
Iraq claims burst over White House trail 49 minutes ago WASHINGTON (AFP) — Explosive new revelations about President George W. Bush and Iraq reverberated along the White House trail Wednesday, exposing Republican candidate John McCain to possible damage on the war. Excerpts from a score-settling memoir by former White House press secretary Scott McClellan, threw the unpopular conflict back into the political crossfire offering an opening to Democrat Barack Obama, who opposed it from the start. McClellan wrote that the president was not "open and forthright" on Iraq and relied on propaganda to sell an unnecessary war, and also savaged the White House over its botched handling of Hurricane Katrina which swamped New Orleans. The flap over the book broke at an inopportune moment for McCain, just as he was enlisting the president's help in a series of fundraisers Tuesday and Wednesday, prompting a scathing attack from Obama. McCain backs Bush's troop surge strategy in Iraq, and accuses Democrats of wanting to surrender there. But his high stakes bet of aligning himself with the president on Iraq has the potential to backfire, though McCain may be insulated to some extent by his fierce critique of how the war was handled in its early stages. The Arizona senator has also upbraided the White House over Katrina. Obama, who goes into the final three Democratic nominating contests with Hillary Clinton in the next six days with the nomination in sight, is making great play of his opposition to the war, and has vowed to bring US troops home. He accuses McCain of wanting to prolong "failed" Bush strategies, and says a complete realignment of US domestic and foreign policies is needed. The charges by McClellan, who was the president's mouthpiece from 2003-2006 were unexpectedly harsh, given that he was one of Bush's earliest and most loyal aides. In the memoir, "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception" McClellan says Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was deft at deflecting blame and calls Vice President Dick Cheney "the magic man" who steered policy behind the scenes, The Washington Post reported. McClellan, 40, also writes that the Iraq war "was not necessary" and "was a serious strategic blunder," according to Politico.com. "I still like and admire President Bush," McClellan writes in the book to be published next week. "But he and his advisers confused the propaganda campaign with the high level of candor and honesty so fundamentally needed to build and then sustain public support during a time of war..." He said the White House staff spent most of the week after Katrina in 2005, "in a state of denial." McClellan also accused former senior Bush advisor Karl Rove and Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's chief of staff, of deceiving him on their role in an explosive CIA leak scandal, US media reported. McCain briefly appeared in public with Bush in Arizona late Tuesday, but both men avoided taking questions from the press, with Bush quickly boarding Air Force One for a flight to Colorado. Illinois senator Obama accused McCain, his potential foe in the November election, of going "hat in hand" with a "failed" president. Bush, still popular with grass-roots Republicans and a formidable fundraiser, was aiming to inject much needed cash into McCain's campaign war chest at the event, which had been originally scheduled at a convention center but was shifted to a private residence. But a CNN/Opinion Research poll this month showed that 71 percent of Americans disapprove of how Bush is doing his job, the first time any president had smashed the 70 percent barrier. On the campaign trail Monday, Obama had his own slip up when he claimed that a great uncle helped liberate the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz. The Obama team on Tuesday admitted he made a mistake, and that the great uncle was in fact part of a unit that freed inmates at a subcamp of the concentration camp at Buchenwald in Germany, and not Auschwitz. Republicans said the slip proved Obama was prone to exaggerations and gaffes, raising questions about his capacity to serve as commander in chief.
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#1. To: All (#0)
Just Too Rich.
"Satan / Cheney in "08" But he still "respects and admires" him. Pantload. Bush is a liar. I'd love to see that truth on the front page.
"HOLODOMOR" is Ukrainian word for "FAMINE-GENOCIDE"
I don't think MSM is going to put anything about Scott McClellan's allegations about Bush and his IsraelFirst advisors deceiving us into a war for lies on the front page for the rubes to read, since MSM was the willing hand-maiden tin promoting the call to war and there are still some deluded people believing that little Johnny's sacrifice of life or limb for Izzy was for America.
It did make front-page, above the fold, story in our daily failure.
Really? Wow, I'm impressed at your newspaper's boldness and courage! Did it just focus on bashing Dumbo? "Cause that's an easy assignment. Or did it also include revelations about his blood-thirsty Israel First advisors? Any names given like Feith or Wolfowitz, for example? Anything about transforming the ME for Izzy's security? I'd love for some daily newspaper to reprint Clean Break Theory on their f'ing front page with photos of the Usual Suspects who pushed this ghoulish concept.
Thanks for the link. It's similar to what I posted last night - must be T.H.E. canned news service story that newspapers across the country are buying and printing. Did you read through the 5 pages of reader comments? Amazing that some are still defending the neocon cabal and attacking McClellan for being the bearer of bad news. Sure he's making $ off his book and he went along with the program at the time himself but it does not mean that what he says today should be ignored.
They're the ones employed by the admin.
"HOLODOMOR" is Ukrainian word for "FAMINE-GENOCIDE"
Bush = Cheney's Wand. Thank You Scottie, I had no clue that Bush used propaganda. Have to admit, it was effective, even Ray Charles saw by Feb 2002 that Iraq was a done deal.
It was Top Secret till now.
"Satan / Cheney in "08" Republicans said the slip proved Obama was prone to exaggerations and gaffes, raising questions about his capacity to serve as commander in chief.
#2. To: tom007 (#0)
McClellan wrote that the president was not "open and forthright"
#3. To: angle (#2)
Pantload. Bush is a liar. I'd love to see that truth on the front page.
#4. To: scrapper2 (#3)
#5. To: lodwick (#4)
It did make front-page, above the fold, story in our daily failure.
#6. To: scrapper2, everyone (#5)
Here's a link to the article -
#7. To: lodwick (#6)
#8. To: scrapper2 (#7)
some are still defending the neocon cabal
#9. To: tom007 (#0)
#10. To: swarthyguy (#9)
I had no clue that Bush used propaganda.
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