Former White House spokesman Scott McClellan admitted Sunday that he had "unknowingly" presented "false information" to the news media about President Bush's Iraq strategy. "I was part of this propaganda campaign, absolutely," McClellan conceded on NBC's Meet the Press as he continued to promote his new book, What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception. McClellan, who has been criticized by both the right and the left for not having voiced his objections while still part of the president's inner-circle, indicated that he agreed with those critics. "The most important lesson" that he came away with, he said, "is that it's important to speak up at the time and I was young and I probably should have spoken up about some of these issues sooner." Meanwhile, reporters Warren Strobel and Jonathan Landay of the Knight Ridder newspapers (purchased by McClatchy publications) who challenged the president's policies on Iraq beginning in early 2002 have criticized TV reporters who challenged McClellan's assertions that they did not ask him the right questions. On the McClatchy blog (http://washingtonbureau.typepad.com/nationalsecurity) the two outlined some of the questions that went unasked (except by them) in the run-up to the invasion and call the reporters' denials "Hogwash! HOGWASH."
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