WASHINGTON, Jan 12: US President George W. Bush acknowledged in his last news conference as head of state on Monday that he had not been able to obliterate the threat of a terrorist attack on the United States and this would be the most urgent problem confronting his successors.

“The most urgent threat that he (President-elect Barack Obama) will have to deal with, and other presidents after him will have to deal with, is an attack on our homeland,” said Mr Bush. “You know, I wish I could report that’s not the case, but there’s still an enemy out there that would like to inflict damage on America -- Americans. And that will be the major threat.”

Mr Bush warned that North Korea and Iran, part of what he once branded an “axis of evil”, remained dangerous as well.

“North Korea’s still a problem,” Mr Bush said when asked about the threats Mr Obama will face. “So they’re still dangerous and Iran is still dangerous.”

On a day when the US State Department issued a sanctions order that blamed the A. Q. Khan network for providing nuclear technology to North Korea, Mr Bush said one of his major concerns was that North Korea might still have a highly enriched uranium programme.

Mr Bush used his farewell news conference to burnish his troubled foreign policy legacy but had to admit that he failed to bring peace to the Middle East although he had eight years to do so.

He blamed democratically elected Palestinian group Hamas for creating a crisis in Gaza in his final year in office, insisting that had Hamas supporters not fired rockets into Israel, the Israelis would not have attacked Gaza.

“The best way to ensure that there is a sustainable cease-fire is to work with Egypt to stop the smuggling of arms into Gaza that enables Hamas to continue to fire rockets,” he said. “And so countries that supply weapons to Hamas have got to stop.”

Asked if he approved of the Israeli conduct in this war, Mr Bush said: “I think Israel has a right to defend herself. Obviously in any of these kinds of situations, I would hope that she would continue to be mindful of innocent folks, and that they help, you know, expedite the delivery of humanitarian aid.”

Mr Bush said that during his tenure most people in the Middle East accepted the two-state solution as the best way for peace but conceded that he did not know when this would happen. “Will this ever happen? I think it will. And I know we have advanced the process,” he added.

Mr Bush denied that US treatment of terrorism suspects at Guantanamo, criticised by human rights groups, had damaged America’s moral standing in the world.

—Correspondent