Bush: Iraq invasion was justified

Defending his decision to invade Iraq, US President George W Bush said that although stockpiles of biological and chemical weapons have not been found, Saddam Hussein had the capacity to produce such arms and could have developed a nuclear weapon over time.

Bush denied he led the United States into war under false pretences, but he acknowledged that some pre-war intelligence apparently was inaccurate. He did not directly respond to election-year allegations that his administration exaggerated intelligence to bolster a march to oust the Iraqi president.

“We will find out about the weapons of mass destruction that we all thought were there,” Bush said in the interview broadcast today for NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Bush, who pledged after the September 11 attacks to get suspected mastermind Osama bin Laden “dead or alive,” said: “I have no idea whether we will capture or bring him to justice.”

Bush said former chief weapons inspector David Kay, who has said that US intelligence was “almost all wrong” about Iraq’s arms, said Saddam found the “capacity to produce weapons.” Bush went on to speculate about what happened to the weapons.

“They could have been destroyed during the war. Saddam and his henchmen could have destroyed them as we entered into Iraq,” Bush said. “They could be hidden. They could have been transported to another country, and we’ll find out.”

Bush said he decided to go to war based on the intelligence he had at hand about Saddam, but said CIA Director George Tenet’s job is not in jeopardy. “I strongly believe the CIA is ably led by George Tenet,” he said.

“Intelligence is a vital part of fighting and winning the war against the terrorists. It is because the war against terrorists is a war against individuals who hide in caves in remote parts of the world, individuals who have these kind of shadowy networks, individuals who deal with rogue nations. So, we need a good intelligence system. We need really good intelligence,” Bush said.

While Bush heavily based the decision to wage war on the rationale that Saddam had forbidden weapons at the ready, the president continued in the interview to emphasise his contention about Saddam’s dictatorial rule – that Saddam brutalised Iraqis and had connections to terrorist groups.

“I repeat to you what I strongly believe, that inaction in Iraq would have emboldened Saddam Hussein,” Bush said. ”He could have developed a nuclear weapon over time – I’m not saying immediately, but over time. … We would have been in a position of blackmail. In other words, you can’t rely upon a madman.”

“And by the way, by clearly stating policy, whether it be in Afghanistan or stating the policy that we expect you, Mr Saddam Hussein, to disarm, your choice to disarm, but if you don’t, there will be serious consequences in following through, it has had positive effects in the world.

“Libya, for example, there was a positive effect in Libya where Moammar Gadaffi voluntarily disclosed his weapons programmes and agreed to dismantle them, and the world is a better place as a result of that. And the world is a safer and better place as a result of Saddam Hussein not being in power,” Bush said.

When questioned why the US does not invade other dictatorial nations like Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Myanmar, Bush replied: “I felt like we needed to use force in Iraq and not in North Korea, because we had run the diplomatic string in Iraq. As a matter of fact, failed diplomacy could embolden Saddam Hussein in the face of this war we were in.”

In North Korea, Bush said: “The diplomacy is just beginning. We are making good progress in North Korea.

“As I’ve said in my speeches, every situation requires a different response and a different analysis, and so in Iran there is no question they’re in danger, but the international community is now trying to convince Iran to get rid of its nuclear weapons programme. And on the Korean peninsula, now the United States and China, along with South Korea and Japan and Russia, are sending a clear message to Kim Jung Il, if you are interested in a different relationship, disclose and destroy your programme in a transparent way."