ABSTRACT
Scott McClellan hadn’t even begun his new job, but he knew it would be a challenge.
McClellan, deputy press secretary to President George W. Bush since the president took office in January 2001, had just been promoted to succeed press secretary Ari Fleisher, in July 2003. The U.S. had invaded Iraq in March, ostensibly to prevent Saddam Hussein from being able to use weapons of mass destruction. In the run-up to the war, senior administration officials had warned of grave consequences of leaving Hussein in power, including assertions that “the smoking gun may well be a mushroom cloud.”
