Unplugged: A "Death Book for Veterans"?

On today's "Washington Unplugged," former Bush adviser Jim Towey defended his growing campaign over an end-of-life planning book distributed by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Towey said the pamplet, which was first published in 1997 and is called "Your Life, Your Choices," pushes veterans "towards a discernment of whether their life is worth living or not." He called the VA's text "tilted and biased" and said it was written by a prominent assisted suicide advocate.

Last week, Towey sparked the controversy with an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal titled "The Death Book for Veterans."

"It seems to me that for the VA and government which has a financial stake in the end of life…It seems to me that the government should be a heck of a lot more neutral," he told CBS News' Nancy Cordes. "It should not be involved in biasing the discussion towards a hastened death."

He also said his campaign against "Your Life, Your Choices" is completely independent of his push for the VA to buy and use his advanced care publication. Towey is the founder of the not-for-profit Aging with Dignity, which sells "Five Wishes," a manual with the same intent.

Also appearing on the show, Marcus Baram, a news editor at the Huffington Post, called the hoopla surrounding the book a "manufactured controversy" noting that the text has been around for over ten years and has similar guidance to other advanced care planning documents.

"It's got support of veterans groups. It's got support from interfaith groups and it seems like no one has really complained about this until Mr. Towey," he argued.

Towey dismissed claims by the VA that the "work book" has not been recently publicized, noting that as of Tuesday morning it was available on their Web site.

In defense of the VA, Chaplain Juliana Lesher said the 52-page document in question is "is not the official position of the VA."

"This is just one of many options that could be given to a veteran. This is clearly just an educational work book," Lesher said. "It was never intended to be the decision making tool for veterans."

Watch the full episode above. "Washington Unplugged" appears live on CBSNews.com each weekday at 12:30 p.m. ET. Click here to check out previous episodes.