Deb Riechmann, Associated Press

WASHINGTON, 9 February 2004 — 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, in an interview broadcast yesterday, denied he led the United States into war under false pretenses, but he acknowledged that some prewar 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 taped Saturday in the Oval Office with Tim Russert, host of NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Bush, who pledged after the Sept. 11 attacks to get suspected mastermind Osama Bin Laden “dead or alive,” said yesterday: “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 Saddam’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, and 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 emphasize his contention about Saddam’s dictatorial rule — that Saddam brutalized 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.”

When questioned why the United States 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 program.

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 program in a transparent way.