US President George W. Bush's former chief spokesman charges in a harsh new book that the Iraq war was unnecessary and sold to the US public with a deceptive "propaganda campaign." Released five months before November elections to decide Bush's successor, Scott McClellan's stunning memoir "What Happened" sent shockwaves through Washington and drew immediate and very personal attacks from former colleagues. "As I have heard Bush say, only a wartime president is likely to achieve greatness," he writes in brutal book that Bush aides quickly branded a coarse betrayal. "In Iraq, Bush saw his opportunity to create a legacy of greatness."