Bush: I didn't want hurried Iraq investigation

By The New York Times and Bloomberg News

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WASHINGTON — President Bush yesterday defended his decision to give a commission he appointed to investigate the U.S. failure to find biological and chemical weapons in Iraq until after the fall election to complete its work.

"We didn't want it to be hurried," Bush said in an interview that will air today on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Bush is under pressure to answer charges that prewar U.S. intelligence that he used to justify last year's war in Iraq was flawed and to prove his administration didn't skew it.

Former chief weapons inspector David Kay said late last month that the United States was "all wrong" on Iraq's possession of chemical and biological weapons.

Bush announced the bipartisan commission's members on Friday and said they will have until March 2005 to finish the investigation.

Some GOP strategists have been especially concerned that the inability of the United States to find banned weapons in Iraq could undermine Bush's credibility and undercut his efforts to present himself as an experienced commander in chief in battling terrorism.

Bush said voters would have plenty of opportunity to evaluate the decisions he made about the war even though the commission will not report until nearly five months after Election Day, Nov. 2.

"This is a strategic look, kind of a big-picture look about the intelligence-gathering capacities of the United States of America," Bush said in interview excerpts released yesterday by the network.

The unusual appearance by Bush on a Sunday morning news show marked the beginning of a new phase in his re-election campaign.
 
"Now, look, we are in a political season," he said. "There is going to be ample time for the American people to assess whether or not I made a — good calls, whether I used good judgment, whether or not I made the right decision in removing Saddam Hussein from power, and I look forward to that debate."

Bush's approval rating is 48 percent, the lowest in three years, and 50 percent don't want him to be re-elected in November, a Feb. 5-6 Newsweek poll found.

A separate poll Jan. 25-31 by the National Annenberg Election Survey found Bush's decline in support started soon after Kay voiced skepticism that banned weapons would be found in Iraq.

Asked by Tim Russert, the host of "Meet the Press," whether the war was worth 530 American lives and thousands of injuries even though inspectors have found no stockpiles of banned weapons in Iraq, Bush said it was "essential that I explain this properly to the parents of those who lost their lives."

Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi leader, "was dangerous, and I'm not just going to leave him in power and trust a madman," Bush said.

Bush cited the judgment of Kay, who concluded that Saddam did not have the weapons stockpiles the president had cited as a primary justification for the war, but told interviewers last month that Iraq might nonetheless have been more dangerous than the United States had judged.

"For the parents of the soldiers who have fallen who are listening, David Kay, the weapons inspector, came back and said, in many ways Iraq was more dangerous than we thought," Bush said.

Kay said on Jan. 28 that prewar intelligence pointing to the existence of weapons wasn't the result of political pressure.

Bush also gave a vote of confidence to George Tenet, the director of central intelligence, saying his job is not in jeopardy "at all."

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