WORLD> America
|
WORLD> America
|
|
McClellan: WH wanted him to stay silent
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-05-29 23:20 McClellan said that even at the time, he thought that the country was "rushing into"the Iraq war. But McClellan said he was he was caught up in "the post-9/11 mentality"and so accepted what the president was saying. "I was in doubt, like a lot of Americans," McClellan said. "I felt like we were rushing into this. But because of my position and my affection for the president and my belief and trust in he and his advisers, I gave them the benefit of the doubt. Looking back on it, reflecting on it now, I don't think I should have. ... The expectations later came back to haunt us, because they were out of whack." McClellan said his mission had been to write "openly and honestly about what I lived and learned." "The larger message has been lost in the mix of the original reaction to it,"he said. "I believe it's important to look back and reflect on my experience and talk to people about what I learned and what we can learn from it." McClellan says the book's "larger message"is the problems with the "permanent campaign culture."He said that's the opposite of what he expected when he came to Washington after serving then-Governor Bush in Texas. "I had all this great hope that we were going to come to Washington and change it,"McClellan recalled. "He talked about being a uniter, not a divider. … And then we got to Washington and I think we got caught up in playing the Washington game the way it's played today." "These are good and well-intentioned people,"McClellan added. Asked bluntly if Bush had let him down, McClellan said: "I grew increasingly disillusioned." McClellan added: "There's no one I'm harder on in the book, I don't think, than myself."He says he blames himself "for putting myself in the position"of passing on information about the CIA leak case that turned out to be inaccurate. As part of a sophisticated media counterattack by Bush allies, McClellan's predecessor Ari Fleischer asked on ABC's "Good Morning America": "Which Scott is the real one?" "This is heartbreaking to me,"Fleischer said. "This makes me wonder if Scott ever believed the things he said from the podium." Fleischer said that for McClellan to now "turn tail and say these things … makes you question his convictions … either now, or when he stood at the podium." On the question of how much information was available to McClellan in the White House, Fleischer said: "It's not loop or no loop. It's whether Scott meant the things he said." Bartlett, asked if McClellan is still his friend, said: "He is." McClellan is to appear Thursday night on MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann"and Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press"with Tim Russert |
