WASHINGTON, Feb 8: US President George W. Bush gave CIA director George Tenet a vote of confidence on Saturday and said his job was not in jeopardy, despite flaws in US prewar intelligence on Iraq.
"I strongly believe the CIA is ably led by George Tenet," Bush was quoted as saying in a transcript from an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press." Asked by moderator Tim Russert if Tenet's job was at risk, Bush replied, "No, not at all, not at all."
Democrats vying to challenge Bush for the presidency in the November election have seized on the administration's failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Such weapons were a main reason Bush cited for the Iraq war, in which more than 500 US troops have died.
To try to quell some of the criticism, Bush on Friday named a commission to investigate failures in the Iraq intelligence. Some Republicans have been eager to blame Tenet for the intelligence failures as way of trying to shield the White House. But Bush's comments indicated the White House does not favor that strategy, which could carry risks for him in an election year.
Tenet has staunchly defended Bush against critics who said the White House pressured intelligence analysts to skew their findings to bolster the case for war.
FIGHT BACK: The interview with Russert comes after the president's poll numbers have been fading lately. He appears to have been hurt by former chief US weapons hunter David Kay's assertions that he does not believe Iraq's ousted President Saddam Hussein possessed any stockpiles of banned weapons.
Republicans said Bush's decision to grant an interview with Russert, known as a tough questioner, was part of an effort to fight back against weeks of Democratic attack.
Asked if he thought the war and the lives lost in it were worth it even though no weapons were found, Bush said he felt the war was justified. "Saddam Hussein was dangerous ... He had the ability to make weapons at the very minimum," Bush said.
The president defended his decision to ask the new commission on US intelligence to report back in March 2005 - five months after the presidential election. Democrats want the information sooner.
Bush said the commission's work could look into such cases as the Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan who admitted leading a network to sell nuclear-weapon technology to other countries.
"This is a strategic look, a big-picture look," Bush said. Many Democrats have criticized the decision to sketch out such a broad mandate for the commission, which they said should focus squarely on Iraq and include in its scope a look into whether the Bush administration hyped the intelligence. -Reuters
