Iraq Notebook
Bush skirts demands for inquiry

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"I want to be able to compare what the Iraq Survey Group has found with what we thought prior to going into Iraq," Bush said when asked whether he would support an independent probe.

"I want the American people to know that I, too, want to know the facts," Bush told reporters at the White House.

Former chief U.S. weapons inspector David Kay on Wednesday told a Senate committee, "we were almost all wrong" about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and that his search there found no evidence of biological, chemical or nuclear arms, although he said ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was trying to maintain programs capable of producing such weapons.

Presence of such weapons was stated as the major reason for the March invasion of Iraq.

Bush said Kay had made clear in his testimony that Saddam was a "growing danger" who had to be dealt with given the post-Sept. 11 world.

"He was defiant, he ignored the request of the international community and this country led a coalition to remove him. We dealt with the danger," Bush said.

Bomb at Mosul police station injures many, witnesses say

BAGHDAD, Iraq — A car bomb exploded today in front of a police station in the center of Iraq's third largest city and at least one person was seen being carried away by rescuers, witnesses said.

Witnesses said windows of buildings in Mosul were shattered by the blast and plumes of smoke could be seen. Some witness said there were many casualties.

Italian prime minister takes heat for failing to visit Iraq

BRDO, Slovenia — Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, criticized by some for getting a face-lift instead of visiting troops in Iraq, said yesterday that the trip would be too dangerous.

"I had decided to go at the end of last year," Berlusconi said. "But the news was reported by certain newspapers and the armed forces told me there was a real danger not only for the prime minister but for airplane staff and soldiers."

Several leaders have visited Iraq in recent months to boost morale, including President Bush, Spain's Prime Minister José María Aznar and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

BBC journalist resigns after inquiry over reporting

LONDON — BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan resigned yesterday after a judicial inquiry repudiated his reporting that the government "sexed up" intelligence reports on Iraq's weapons. The BBC's top two officials had resigned earlier.

In a statement, Gilligan apologized for mistakes in his May 2003 story but said "the BBC collectively has been the victim of a grave injustice ... by the unbalanced judgments" of senior judge Lord Hutton.

Hutton, appointed by Prime Minister Tony Blair to investigate the suicide of David Kelly, a scientist caught up in the dispute between the government and the BBC about the case for war, said this week the BBC was wrong when it quoted an anonymous source as saying officials had inflated intelligence to justify war.

Kelly committed suicide in July after he was identified as the source for the BBC's story.

Hutton exonerated Blair's government and excoriated the BBC for what he called an "unfounded" report and "defective" editorial procedures.

Also ...

NATO's new secretary-general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer of the Netherlands, told President Bush yesterday the alliance would probably agree to more direct military involvement in Iraq if requested by a sovereign Iraqi government. ... Attackers fired two rocket-propelled grenades at the Dutch Embassy in Baghdad yesterday, hitting the roof with one and setting it on fire. The blaze was quickly extinguished. ... A pipeline rupture sent large pools of oil flowing into Iraq's Tigris River near Tikrit yesterday.

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