Bush vows to reveal truth on Iraq's banned weapons

US President George Bush argued today that the US-led invasion of Iraq was justified and pledged to “reveal the truth” about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction.

“We have made sure Iraq is not going to be used as an arsenal for terrorist groups,” Bush told US troops at Central Command in Qatar.

He noted the recent discovery of what US officials say are mobile biological weapons labs and said the search for banned arms could take a long time.

“We are going to look. We will reveal the truth,” Bush said. “But one thing is certain: no terrorist network will gain weapons of mass destruction from the Iraqi regime because the Iraqi regime is no more.”

Bush’s visit comes as questions continue to swirl around his primary justification for the conflict in Iraq – that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction and was poised to use them.

In a recent interview with Polish television, Bush cited two equipment-filled trailers found in northern Iraq that American intelligence agencies say were mobile biological weapons production facilities.

“We found the weapons of mass destruction,” he said in the interview.

The president, fresh from a two-day mission aimed at bringing peace to the Middle East, said the Iraq war “sent along a clear message that our nation is strong and our nation is compassionate.”

“America sent you on a mission to remove a grave threat and liberate an oppressed people and that mission has been accomplished,” he told the more than 1,000 troops, who cheered every other sentence.

Earlier today, Bush privately met Gen Tommy Franks, the commander of all US-led forces in the Gulf, and with Paul Bremer, the new head of the occupation authority in Iraq, to discuss the progress of Iraqi reconstruction.

He also paid a courtesy call to the emir of Qatar, a country that has long been a US ally.

“You have been a steadfast friend of the United States, and for that we are very grateful,” Bush told Emir Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.

Bush said Iraq is a better place now, cataloguing humanitarian works by US troops.

The troops are trying to thwart a wave of crime that Bush blamed on Saddam, who he said emptied jail cells of ”common criminals” just before the war and left his people hungry and desperate.

Bush also blamed Saddam for neglecting his country’s infrastructure, without mentioning damage from the war. Building the country up will accelerate the emergence of a new government, he said.

“A more just political system will develop when people have food in their stomachs, and their lights work, and they can turn on a faucet and they can find some clean water – things that Saddam Hussein did not do for them,” Bush said.

“I have been on the road for a while and I hope you didn’t mind us stopping by,” Bush told the US troops.

I am happy to see you and so are the long-suffering people of Iraq.”