Lying he knew was a sin

By
Saul Landau                                                                        Read Spanish Version

Betrayal
by Karl Rove and Scooter Libby, Scott McClellan viewed as ultimate
betrayal.
Yes, Bush and Cheney had prevaricated their way into a war with Iraq,
which upset him, but not to the extent of the treasonous behavior by
his bosom buddies. Former Bushies, McClellan had observed, can
achieve revenge and atonement by writing a book.
(What
Happened: Inside the Bush
White House
and Washington’s Culture of Deception).

McClellan,
the innocuous former Bush Press Secretary — July 2003 to April 2006
— joins a growing group of deserters cum authors who felt
disillusioned or betrayed by Bush and Cheney. Former Treasury
Secretary Paul O’Neill shook his head in amazement — in print —
at Bush’s astonishing ignorance about the economy and hubris on
Iraq. Richard Clarke angrily denounced the Bushies — and
particularly Condi Rice when she served as National Security Adviser
— for their complacency and downright inaction on terrorism before
9/11.

Each
of them emerge as modern versions of Tom Lehrer’s Irish girl who
slew the rest of her family members. But “when at last the police
came by, Her little pranks she did not deny, To do so she would have
had to lie, And lying she knew was a sin.”

For
the Bushies, lying constituted the principle method of communicating
with the public, the press and Congress. But when Rove and Libby lied
to Scotty about their roles in leaking former CIA official Valerie
Plame’s name to the media, they committed the unpardonable sin. Not
lying to start an illegal war in Iraq, or institutionalize torture.
“We do not torture,” Bush said after he had approved torture.

McClellan
knew that Bush had promised to fire anyone who leaked a classified
name. Didn’t Scotty understand that when Bush made such promises he
didn’t include Rove and Libby? Indeed, their jobs were leakers, not
plumbers. Imagine, poor Scotty, the frat boys deceived him, he
reported their deceptions as facts to the press and then he finds out
that Bush himself authorized leaks that could help him politically —
such as the name of Valerie Plame, wife of former Ambassador Joseph
Wilson who exposed the Bush-Cheney lies about Saddam Hussein trying
to buy yellowcake uranium from Niger.

The
wrath of the disillusioned pours forth in a book, from which
McClellan not only gets even but makes a pile of money and will get
high paid speaking gigs for several years. He warns of the “culture
of deception,” the only means of operating that the Bushies have
used to pollute the already deeply contaminated environment in which
U.S. politics operates.

He
tells us the obvious: “Washington has become the home of the
permanent campaign.” He described what we read and see daily on
“news” shows as “a game of endless politicking based on the
manipulation of shades of truth, partial truths, twisting of the
truth, and spin.” Real hot stuff, Scotty, even if it’s been said
and written hundreds of times before!

The
Bushies now feign surprise over McClellan’s revelations as if the
deceivers have been deceived, a level of treason higher than that
practiced by the gang who deceived their way into war. Fraternity,
loyalty and trust became insider values on the road to imperial
power. But once achieved, power dictates devotion, never to principal
or to “we the people,” but to keeping power, increasing and
consolidating power.

Some
academics and ideologues still cling to phrases like “spreading
democracy,” as a historic mission of the American nation. What
McClellan’s book shows, once again, is that Bush spreads words like
excess mayonnaise on his sandwich. He swore we had to invade Iraq to
prevent Saddam Hussein from sharing his WMD with Al Qaeda — a lie.
Then he claimed that the WMD were not relevant, but the world was
better off without the despot. And don’t forget democracy — as he
began to systematically destroy its meaning at home with warrantless
wiretaps and institutionalizing torture.

Bush,
like his aspiring follower, John McCain, insists that an immediate or
even short range U.S. departure from Iraq would hand victory to Al
Qaeda even as his intelligence reports that Al Qaeda has been deeply
weakened in Iraq and never really represented the great challenge to
U.S. occupiers. Like Henry Kisssinger, Bush will say anything. Unlike
Kissinger, who fabricated in order to manipulate, Bush apparently
does not allow truth to enter his mind when he speaks. That would be
too difficult a multitasking job for him.

Poor
McClellan realized that Bush and the other bros in the power frat had
toyed with him, probably giggled as they watched him repeat their
fibs to the press and public.

Scotty
had no reason to believe Bush except his gut, which clearly ruled his
intellect. He attributes Bush’s gut use to his policy mistakes,
rather than attributing any base motives to the worst president in
American history, a man who took office with the shadow of fraud cast
over him, who led the nation into two stupid and bloody wars that
will prove difficult to end, not matter who wins in November,
directed the economy into debt, deficit and chaos and failed to
respond to the most obvious challenge any leader would have to face:
when Katrina hit New Orleans it took him five days to fly over it.

McClellan
claims Bush’s big mistake was not firing the treacherous Karl Rove
for leaking Plame’s name — not for orchestrating the public
deception campaign Bush and Cheney used to steer the nation to war.

Neither
McClellan nor most of the major press celebrities pose the larger
questions — ones that might bring doubt onto the maxims that guide
U.S. politics. The obscene size of the defense budget, meaning the
priorities of the nation, passes without careful scrutiny by the
press secretary and the press. The assumption we all learn in grade
school and high school — “we are a government of law, not of men”
— begets little scrutiny from the media or the White House’s
liaison to the media who is supposed to tell the truth.

The
Defense Department and its inflated budget have not defended us since
World War II, the last time a nation attacked the United States. The
major media have not educated the citizens since — well, you all can
figure that out.

When
Bush claims to spread democracy few in the media scoff. Democracy
means respect for the will of the people — including those of Gaza
when they elect Hamas, Iran and Venezuela when they choose
Ahmadinejad and Chavez.  

The
remnants of Bush’s old guard now call McClellan names. This “sore
loser” is confused. True. In his book, poor Scotty whines about
being deceived, instead of mourning for the dead and wounded in Iraq
and the millions of Americans who will pay for generations for the
deceit and folly of an Administration for whom he was official
mouthpiece.

Saul
Landau is an Institute for Policy Studies fellow and author of A
BUSH AND BOTOX WORLD.
His films are available on dvd (roundworldproductions.com).