Bush avoids Iraq WMD probe
The White House is under increasing pressure to set up a full independent inquiry into alleged intelligence failures in the run-up to war in Iraq.
All Democratic presidential contenders support an inquiry. Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, a long-standing critic of the war, is expected to demand a full, independent inquiry during a tour of a TV studios this weekend in a bid to reinvigorate his presidential campaign.
Republican Senator John McCain has also broken ranks to insist on a full probe. Influential Arizona Republican John McCain’s decision has also put pressure on the Bush administration.
President George W Bush told reporters on Friday: “I want the American people to know that I, too, want to know the facts.” He did not say that an inquiry will be set up. The President said he wanted to compare what was found by the Iraq Survey Group with what had been thought before the war.
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice on Thursday became the first senior member of the Bush administration to publicly acknowledge that the data used as the key argument for invading Iraq may have been incorrect.
Her admissions followed those of the ex-head of the Iraq Survey Group, David Kay. Mr Kay told Congress he did not believe there were significant stockpiles of banned weapons in Iraq before the war.
On Friday, Mr Bush reiterated his view that ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had been a “danger”. “We dealt with the danger, and as a result, the world is a better place and a more peaceful place, and the Iraqi people are free,” he said.
