US President George W. Bush, with the British prime minister at his side, last night stood by his assertion that Iraq was trying to rebuild its nuclear weapons programme.
A joint White House press conference last night, intended as a celebration of the US-British relationship and the swift overthrow of Saddam Hussein, instead saw questions about post-war chaos in Iraq, disputed intelligence and British terror suspects held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Mr Tony Blair defended British intelligence on Saddam's alleged weapons of mass destruction the allies used to justify invading Iraq, saying he believed it was "genuine."
Mr Bush called it "sound" and condemned "the sceptics," who have focused on a now-discredited line in his State of the Union speech about Iraq's attempt to get uranium from Africa. The White House says it should not have been included in Mr Bush's address.
"He [Saddam] possessed chemical weapons and biological weapons," Mr Bush said. "I strongly believe he was trying to reconstitute his nuclear weapons programme and I will remind the sceptics that in 1991 it became clear that Saddam Hussein was much closer to developing a nuclear weapon than anybody ever imagined.
"He [Saddam] was a threat. I take responsibility for dealing with that threat," Mr Bush said, adding: "We won't be proven wrong. . . . We will bring the information forward on the weapons when they find them and that'll end all this speculation".
In an impassioned defence of the war before a joint session of Congress, Mr Blair said that toppling Saddam was justified even though weapons of mass destruction have failed to materialise.
"Can we be sure that terrorism and weapons of mass destruction will join together? Let us say one thing: If we are wrong we will have destroyed a threat that at its least is responsible for inhuman carnage and suffering," Mr Blair said.
"That is something I am confident history will forgive".
Mr Blair and Mr Bush are suffering criticism for allegedly overstating the threat from Iraq's banned weapons to justify the conflict.
Moreover, political chaos now grips parts of Iraq, troops are under attack and public trust in Mr Blair has slumped while Mr Bush's approval ratings have slipped since the war ended.