Selling the Iraq war to the hard of thinking

[snaw]

I think the big backlash will come when popular sentiment in America changes. At the moment I think support for the Iraq war is 50/50 but once the general consensus is that the war was costly and unneccessary I think the rednecks will pick up their pitchforks and skewer everything that moves.

Not sure where you get that stat - support in the US for the war is way below 50/50 - something like 65% against it now (There are a tonne of surveys out there to google which back this up).

The backlash came when the republicans got a kicking in the midterm elections and lost both houses ... it'll be interesting to see what happens come the election, a few months back democrats would have been a shoe in - but Mcain supporting the surge and it going, relatively well, has given him a boost.

[sunnysan]

Nice guy

Tend to agree, he is after the cash. Althought the Republican strategist has an agenda, its a direct hit really, you cant really argue with that

Robin Cook as much as I didnt like him, did resign becuase of the Iraq war, which may have been integrity or a shrewd political move. I think that he probably had the long term view that this whole scam would be found out and he is right and it is a shame he wont be aorund to see it.

Itergrity is, in my overly cynical opinion, is when your course of action or agenda agrees with popular moral sentiment, then you are said to have integrity.

I think the big backlash will come when popular sentiment in America changes. At the moment I think support for the Iraq war is 50/50 but once the general consensus is that the war was costly and unneccessary I think the rednecks will pick up their pitchforks and skewer everything that moves.

[Lucy]

Because he wasn't outraged and has a book to sell, but he's confirming what most knew at the time. Now they think it's OK to inform the public they were had, well the faithful who weren't asking the questions anyway.

He has an opinion, that happens to agree with yours. He also has zero integrity and a book to flog.

[Bagpuss]

Well, again, you miss the point. The fact is, if he was so outraged then why wait until now to open his gob.

Because he wasn't outraged and has a book to sell, but he's confirming what most knew at the time. Now they think it's OK to inform the public they were had, well the faithful who weren't asking the questions anyway.

[Lucy]

George Bush's chief advisor on the United States response to terror threats is Frances Townsend

Todd Boulanger, a Republican strategist

What propaganda ?

I don't see no propaganda, too many WMD in the way!

Well, again, you miss the point. The fact is, if he was so outraged then why wait until now to open his gob.

[Bagpuss]

I think it says more about him as a person that he chooses to express his 'views' now when he has just released a book.


Another former colleague, Frances Townsend, told CNN: "For him to do this now strikes me as self-serving, disingenuous and unprofessional,"

Todd Boulanger, a Republican strategist, said: "If he was that outraged, why did he not resign?"

George Bush's chief advisor on the United States response to terror threats is Frances Townsend

Todd Boulanger, a Republican strategist

What propaganda ?

I don't see no propaganda, too many WMD in the way!

[Lucy]

I think it says more about him as a person that he chooses to express his 'views' now when he has just released a book.


Another former colleague, Frances Townsend, told CNN: "For him to do this now strikes me as self-serving, disingenuous and unprofessional,"

Todd Boulanger, a Republican strategist, said: "If he was that outraged, why did he not resign?"

[Bagpuss]

A former aide to President Bush claims the White House deliberately mounted a dishonest propaganda campaign to sell the Iraq invasion to the US public, in the most damning insider account of the presidency so far.

Scott McClellan, who worked for Bush for seven years, including three as White House spokesman, brands the war a "serious strategic blunder" and "not necessary".
The scathing comments stunned Washington today because the Bush team, until now, has had a reputation for intense loyalty to their boss.

Republican strategists and former White House colleagues turned on McClellan, accusing him of writing the book for the money and asking why, if he had felt as he had, he had not resigned at the time. The White House expressed sadness and puzzlement.

McClellan's comments are from What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception, to be published on Monday but excerpts of which appeared on the Washington-based Politico website.

On Iraq, McClellan says Bush and his advisers "confused the propaganda campaign with the high level of candour and honesty so fundamentally needed to build and then sustain public support during a time of war".

He accuses Bush and his advisers of being more interested in permanent campaigning for re-election in 2004 than what was best for the country.

McClellan admits that he had misled the White House press corps, but had done so unknowingly, and regrets that he "fell far short of living up to the kind of public servant I wanted to be".

But he also blames the US media for being too compliant and unsceptical in the run-up to the war.
The White House does not normally comment on such books, but was forced to do so today because McClellan had been such an integral part of the administration.

Dana Perino, the present White House spokeswoman, said: "Scott, we now know, is disgruntled about his experience at the White House. For those of us who fully supported him, before, during and after he was press secretary, we are puzzled. It is sad -- this is not the Scott we knew."

She said Bush had been briefed on the book but she did not expect him to respond. "He has more pressing matters than to spend time commenting on books by former staffers."

But the book dogged Bush throughout today on a trip to the West fundraising for the Republican candidate in the November general election, John McCain, and to make a speech on Iraq.

The account of how the White House manipulated public opinion is politically awkward for McCain, who faces a dilemma over whether to distance himself further from Bush.

McClellan says in the 341-page book that the way Bush managed the Iraq issue from the summer of 2002 "almost guaranteed that the use of force would become the only feasible option". The US invaded in 2003.

The propaganda was part of the Bush administration's general approach to being in office. Bush wanted to achieve what his father failed to do, win a second term.

McLellan says: "In the permanent campaign era, it was all about manipulating sources of public opinion to the president's advantage."

Bush has been run over by one of the quieter members of his team. Although he had a prominent role as the White House's public front, he tended at staff meetings to maintain a low profile. He gave no indication as press secretary that he was disgruntled.

Part of the reason McClellan may have turned on his former boss is over the Lewis 'Scooter' Libby affair, which began with misleading information about Iraq and uranium and ended with Libby being sentenced to jail, though he was released after an effective Bush pardon.

McClellan is sore that he was given incorrect information by White House staff, including the president, and misled the press.

Karl Rove, who had been Bush's chief of staff and is now a commentator on Fox News, said today that McClellan had been out of the loop on many issues and had never expressed his concerns while working for the administration.

Another former colleague, Frances Townsend, told CNN: "For him to do this now strikes me as self-serving, disingenuous and unprofessional,"

Todd Boulanger, a Republican strategist, said: "If he was that outraged, why did he not resign?"





Oh Dear, I can't believe we were mislead!