In the News: May-28

Former press secretary's book bashes Bush - 28 May 2008 at 8:21am - WASHINGTON -- Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan has written that President Bush relied on a propaganda campaign to sell the Iraq war in the place of honesty and candor.

No kidding.

McClellan memoir rankles White House - 28 May 2008 at 12:47pm - White House aides and former administration officials seemed stunned, puzzled and angry over the scathing tone of a memoir by former press secretary Scott McClellan. "Scott, we now know, is disgruntled about his experience at the White House," said White House press secretary Dana Perino. "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." Perino said the reports on the book, titled What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception, had been described to President Bush, and that she did not expect him to comment. "He has more pressing matters than to spend time commenting on books by former staffers," she said.

OK, so he's not commenting....

Bush says country must not lose its nerve in Iraq - 28 May 2008 at 12:52pm - COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- President Bush says the rebuilding of Iraq and Afghanistan is difficult and unprecedented, and "we're learning as we go." The president looked back to the experience of World War II, the deadliest conflict in history, in again asking the country for patience as the United States fights two wars. "We've assumed this obligation before," Bush told more than 1,000 graduates of the U.S. Air Force Academy at a cold, drizzly football-stadium ceremony.
....
Bush says his own country must not lose its nerve. He said terrorist enemies, using the media and the never-ending news cycle, attack innocent people to weaken American resolve. "We need to prevail not just in the battle of arms, but also in the battle of wills," Bush said. "And we need to recognize that the only way that America can lose the war on terror is if we defeat ourselves."

Which is worse: actual terrorist attacks, or the media coverage thereof? Bush appears focused on the media coverage.

Is the U.S. not already defeating itself by persisting in a pointless military occupation of Iraq?

Britain to scrap all cluster bombs: PM - 28 May 2008 at 1:40pm - LONDON (AFP) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced Wednesday that Britain will scrap all cluster bombs in its arsenal, in a bid to break a deadlock at ongoing negotiations in Dublin towards banning the weapons.

Thought for the day:
All generalizations are dangerous, even this one. -Alexandre Dumas (1802 - 1870)