McClellan’s Publisher Tries to Walk Back Scotty’s Assertion That Bush Lied about CIA Leakers

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Guest blogged by Jon Ponder, Pensito Review.

Yesterday we reported that in an excerpt from his upcoming book on his years as Bush’s press spokesman, Scott McClellan wrote that, in 2003, when he exonerated Scooter Libby and Karl Rove of any involvement in the leak of the secret identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson, he had unknowingly lied. “And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice president, the President’s chief of staff, and the president himself.”

Today, predictably, McClellan’s publisher is trying neuturalize McClellan’s claim that Bush was in on the conspiracy to deceive:

Peter Osnos of PublicAffairs, told MSNBC that Mr. McClellan “did not intend to suggest Bush lied to him” about two senior aides’ roles in leaking the identity of Valerie Plame Wilson, a C.I.A. operative, to the conservative columnist Robert Novak and others in 2003.

Right. Except that is precisely what he wrote in the excerpt. Here’s how Osnos squares the circle:

“[Bush] told him something that wasn’t true,” Osnos told Bloomberg News, “but the president didn’t know it wasn’t true,” And: “The president told him what he thought to be the case.”

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McClellan’s Publisher Tries to Walk Back Scotty’s Assertion That Bush Lied about CIA Leakers

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  1. 4)
    Vman said on 11/23/2007 @ 6:21am PT: [Permalink]

    NEVER forget that Plame’s Brewster-Jennings was the true target of the outing. The Wilson smear angle is all Rovian mis-direction and spin. It originated from the White house so is it to be believed? Hell no. Did it ever smear wilson, no. Wilson was sent by cheney to set up the whole deception and EXCUSE.

    Bush/Cheney wanted ethical Plame out of there (mid-east) so she wouldn’t dispute their Iranian war lies when the time came (now that is).

    NEVER loose site that the destruction of Brewster Jennings was TREASON. Valuable sources were lost, people were killed etc.

    Good intelligence is the Bush Administrations worst enemy and that’s why they wanted Plame’s covert company gone. Why would they risk treason to smear wilson? That whole smear angle is so lame if you research it and look at it. Sy Hersh has some good sources on it.

    Maybe folks could expose the spin of the Smear BS and focus on the destruction of Brewster-Jennigs a covert front company that took decades to set-up and millions of our tax dollars to support.

    Regardless of the ‘reason’ for the outing the end result was the same TREASON. Destructiopn of a covert intelligence operation, not just one woman.

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