- WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- President
Bush on Sunday offered a shifting rationale for the Iraq war -- that Saddam
Hussein had the capacity to develop unconventional arms if not the actual
weapons.
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- Iraq's weapons of mass destruction was the main reason
cited by Bush for the war, in which more than 500 U.S. troops and thousands
of Iraqis have died, though no such arms were found and weapons hunters
say pre-war intelligence was flawed.
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- Bush addressed the criticism on Iraq and his handling
of the U.S. economy in an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press"
as his job approval ratings continue to slide and some polls show Democratic
presidential contender John Kerry could beat him in the November election.
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- The president defended putting off the results of a bipartisan
investigation of Iraq intelligence until March 31, 2005, well after the
election, and he stopped short of saying he would testify before it, saying
only he would be glad to "visit with them," share knowledge and
make recommendations.
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- Bush conceded that it was "correct" that weapons
of mass destruction had not been found in Iraq but emphasized a different
reason why the war was necessary.
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- "He had the capacity to have a weapon, make a weapon.
We thought he had weapons. The international community thought he had weapons.
But he had the capacity to make a weapon and then let that weapon fall
into the hands of a shadowy terrorist network," Bush said.
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- The failure to find the promised weapons is turning into
a credibility problem for the president. A Time/CNN poll released on Sunday
said 55 percent of Americans have "doubts and reservations" about
Bush and less than half, 44 percent, said he is a leader they can trust.
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- Bush decided on his own to make a rare appearance on
the top-rated Sunday talk show in an attempt to regain the high ground
of the election-year Iraq debate, aides said.
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- They concede Bush is going through a tough period and
believe his tumbling poll numbers are in part a result of a chorus of attacks
by Democratic challengers and the interview is part of an aggressive push
to answer the critics.
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- With more than 500 Americans killed during the war and
its chaotic aftermath, Bush said he did not believe they died in vain.
"Saddam Hussein was dangerous," he said.
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- TOPPLE SADDAM
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- Bush and his team had said in the run-up to the war that
it was necessary to topple Saddam because he had stockpiles of chemical
and biological weapons, was trying to build a nuclear weapon and represented
a grave danger in the post-Sept. 11, 2001, world.
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- Democratic front-runner Kerry wasted no time in criticizing
Bush for offering a new war rationale.
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- With no weapons found in Iraq, the administration had
previously justified the war by arguing Saddam was worth toppling because
of his appalling human rights record.
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- In the interview, Bush was read a quote by Deputy Defense
Secretary Paul Wolfowitz who said this was not a justification for attacking
Iraq. He declined to address it.
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- "Now the president is giving us a new reason for
sending people to war, and the problem is not just that he is changing
his story now, it is that it appears he was telling the American people
stories in 2002," Kerry said in Richmond, Virginia.
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- He called on Bush to allow a "legitimate and immediate
investigation into the extraordinary failure" of U.S. intelligence
or whether the Bush administration hyped the threat for political purposes.
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- Last Friday Bush appointed a bipartisan commission to
investigate flaws in intelligence used to justify the war based on former
chief weapons hunter David Kay's fruitless search.
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- Bush said he gave the commission until March 2005 to
report back because he did not want its work to be hurried and that voters
will have ample time to assess "whether or not I made the right decision"
in invading Iraq.
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- "It's important that this investigation take its
time," he said.
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- Bush said CIA Director George Tenet's job was not in
jeopardy but he blamed the intelligence he received for his pre-war convictions
that Iraq was a danger.
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- "I expected to find the weapons ... I based my decision
on the best intelligence possible, intelligence that had been gathered
over the years, intelligence that not only our analysts thought was valid
but analysts from other countries thought were valid," he said.
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- On "Fox News Sunday," Sen. John Edwards of
North Carolina said the commission should fully investigate but he hoped
it could finish before the election.
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- "It does bother me" that the commission is
not slated to complete work until March 2005," he said. But, "The
commission needs to conduct its study in a serious way. It shouldn't be
politically motivated or politically driven. We need to get to the bottom
of this."
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- Copyright © 2003 Reuters Limited.
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