Bush pal turns on the prez

WASHINGTON -Bush pal turns on the prezBy APFormer press secretary says Dubya deceived people- In a shocking turnabout, the press secretary most known for defending President George W. Bush has written a memoir damning his old boss on nearly every level -- from a less-than-honest selling of the Iraq war to a lack of personal candour.

In the first major insider account of the Bush White House, Scott McClellan calls the operation "insular, secretive and combative" and says it veered irretrievably off course as a result.

The White House responded angrily yesterday to McClellan's confessional memoir, calling it self-serving sour grapes.

"Scott, we now know, is disgruntled about his experience at the White House," said White House press secretary Dana Perino, a former deputy to McClellan. "We are puzzled. It is sad. This is not the Scott we knew."

McClellan was the White House press secretary from May 2003 to April 2006, the second of four so far in Bush's presidency. He discloses that he was pushed to leave earlier than he had planned.