Q Dana, following on that, in the release from the Senate Democrats, their message -- the first sentence says that this report confirms former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan's account of how the Bush administration led the nation to war through a propaganda campaign. What's your reaction to that?

MS. PERINO: Scott, by his very own admission, wasn't there at the time. He was the Deputy Press Secretary for Domestic Affairs. He has said, as I understand it, that looking back, even though he wasn't there, reading Bob Woodward's book, this is how he came to his conclusion.

So I think that the Senate Democrats and the Republicans took a lot of -- look, I don't know how well this report would stand up in terms of the processes. I know that the Republicans on Capitol Hill have a lot of beef with how it was taken -- how it was done.

And so, when it comes to Scott, I would just remind you that he was the Deputy Press Secretary for Domestic Affairs. He said that upon reflection, looking back at how the war was packaged -- and that's his words -- he disagrees with that. That's fine, that's his opinion. It doesn't change the fact that the information that the President has, the information he was given by the intelligence community -- he based that on the facts that he was given; he based his decisions based on the facts that he was given, and a political judgment. The fact that the intelligence turned out to be wrong on WMD does not mean that anyone purposefully lied. And that is the insinuation by some on Capitol Hill, and by a former colleague. And that's why we were so saddened and disappointed and hurt by his words.

seen at 09:00, 5 June in Whitehouse Press Briefings. Email this to a friend.
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