At the bottom of the
CBS News story on the O'Neill interview, there are some comments from 'administration officials' towards the end of the article, smearing former Secretary O'Neill and essentially calling him incompetent. [more]
Emphasis mine.
"CBS News Correspondent Mark Knoller reported Saturday that, as the White House sees it, O'Neill's remarks are those of a disgruntled former official, and it should not have come as a surprise to O'Neill that the U.S. advocated Saddam's ouster.
In fact, a senior administration official tells CBS News it would have been irresponsible not to plan for Saddam's eventual removal.
As for the charge that there were early plans to invade Iraq, Knoller says the official calls that "laughable." Suggesting that O'Neill doesn't know what he's talking about on this matter, the official told CBS News O'Neill had enough problems in his own area of expertise.
Another senior administraiton official told CBS News Saturday, "No one ever listened to the crazy things he said before, why should we start now?"
Separately, McClellan added Saturday, "We appreciate his service. While we're not in the business of book reviews, it appears the world according to Mr O'Nneill is more about justifying his own opinions than looking at the reality of the results we're achieving on behalf on the American people.
"The president is going to continue to be forward-looking and focus on building on the results we've achieved on the economy and efforts to make the world safer and a better place."
Funny, if he was so wacky and crazy, you'd think he wouldn't have been nominated and confirmed for a cabinet level position. Hopefully O'Neill counters the claim that 'he had enough problems in his own area of expertise' by blaming it on Bush and Rove forcing him into certain actions (or his unwillingness to do so, which led to his resignation/firing).