By Mike Allen and Dana Milbank
The Washington Post
Washington - President Bush accepted responsibility Wednesday for making an allegation about Saddam Hussein's nuclear ambitions that was based on flawed intelligence, but he broadly defended the war against Iraq and the evidence his administration used to justify the conflict.
The president's taking of "personal responsibility" for the charge in his State of the Union address that Iraq sought nuclear material in Africa followed three weeks in which he allowed others on his staff and at the CIA to take the blame for including the charge, which was doubted by U.S. intelligence and was later learned to be based in part on forged documents.
Bush's acknowledgment was part of a lengthy and wide-ranging news conference in the Rose Garden assessing developments abroad and at home in the first half of the year on the eve of a month-long break on his Texas ranch.
On other subjects, Bush vowed no compromise in his opposition to gay marriage and said administration lawyers are working on a way to raise federal obstacles to same-sex marriage. He repeated his rebuff to Saudi officials who seek that the administration make public a report accusing Saudi Arabia of helping the Sept. 11 attackers, and he said he still believes a Middle East peace deal could be reached in two years.
The president, in high spirits and often playful with his questioners, expressed unwavering confidence of success in the full range of challenges facing his administration and the country. Despite a government warning of a renewed terrorist threat to airplanes, Bush said, "I'm confident we will thwart the attempts."
He also said he was confident links would be proven between former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida, that Hussein and his loyalists would be found and defeated, that his trio of tax cuts would give the economy the boost it needs, and that progress was being made against Iranian and North Korean nuclear pursuits.
Still, Bush was less expansive in his claims than he was 90 days earlier, when he declared an end to major combat in Iraq while standing on an aircraft carrier beneath a banner proclaiming "Mission Accomplished."
Wednesday, the president said "the United States and our allies will complete our mission in Iraq" as he discussed the continued threat to U.S. troops in Iraq, 50 of whom have been killed in hostilities in 90 days.
The president did not promise weapons of mass destruction would be found in Iraq. Bush had earlier said with certainty that such weapons would be found, but spoke instead Wednesday of a "weapons program" rather than actual weapons.
"I'm confident that our search will yield that which I strongly believe, that Saddam had a weapons program," he said. Aides played down the distinction when Bush first made the switch a few weeks ago, but the change has since become standard.
"Look, in my line of work, it's always best to produce results, and I understand that," Bush said during the 52-minute news conference in the summer sun. The session was called on 90 minutes' notice as Bush prepared to leave Saturday for a month-long vacation at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, and half a dozen fund-raisers for his re-election.
"In order to, you know, placate the critics and the cynics about intentions of the United States, we need to produce evidence," he said.
Bush's aides have been struggling since July 7 to explain why he declared in his Jan. 28 address to Congress that Saddam "recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa" despite earlier CIA warnings to avoid the claim. Bush since then had deflected questions about whether he took responsibility for the claim, which administration officials have alternately described as wrong and unsubstantiated.
The president amended his answer Wednesday. "I take personal responsibility for everything I say, of course," Bush said. He then shifted to the broader defense of the war he had previously made. "I also take responsibility for making decisions on war and peace," he said. "I analyzed a thorough body of intelligence, good, solid, sound intelligence that led me to come to the conclusion that it was necessary to remove Saddam Hussein from power."
Bush strongly endorsed National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, whose public statements had about the nuclear threat posed by Saddam had been contradicted by other officials and emerging facts. "Dr. Condoleezza Rice is an honest, fabulous person, and America is lucky to have her service - period," Bush said, rapping the podium for emphasis.
Rice, Wednesday night on PBS' "The NewsHour," also shouldered blame for the first time. "I certainly feel personal responsibility for this entire episode," she said. "The president of the United States has every right to believe that what he is saying in his speeches is of the highest confidence of his staff. ... In this one case, the process did not work."
Bush and his aides had never concealed his distaste for formal news conferences; Bush's eight news conferences to date compare to 33 by Bill Clinton and 61 by George H. W. Bush at similar times in their presidencies, according to a tally by the Associated Press. But Bush seemed to be enjoying himself Wednesday, puncturing the news conference tension with self-deprecation.
He joked his advancing age prevented him from remembering multi-part questions, and made mirth of his stumble over the name of a captured terrorist. Bush called him "Ramzi - Ramzi al Shibh, or whatever the guy's name was," to laughter from the press corps. "Sorry, Ramzi, if I got it wrong." Then it came to him: "Binalshibh - excuse me."
When a CBS News correspondent attempted a follow-up question on the sensitive subject of the Iraq weapons intelligence, Bush dispatched the questioner by saying, "I'm kind of finding my feet." When the correspondent tried again, Bush cut him off with a curt "you're through." Discussing "frustration" in the media about a lack of results in Iraq, Bush said in an aside to an NBC News correspondent: "You don't look frustrated to me at all."
