US President George W. Bush has defended his decision to attack Iraq against a chorus of Democratic charges that the war was fought on false pretences since a report by a top CIA weapons hunter said no weapons of mass destruction have yet been found.
"I can't think of any people who think that the world would be a safe place with Saddam Hussein in power," Bush said yesterday.
Democrats cried foul, saying David Kay's report on the search for weapons of mass destruction showed there had been no immediate threat to the United States from Iraq.
"All I can say is I didn't believe there was an imminent threat to the United States when we went to war, and I'm more convinced from listening to him (Kay) that there never was a threat," said Massachusetts Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy.
Bush, already off stride by a leak investigation, awoke to headlines that the US team led by Kay had reported it found no biological or chemical weapons in Iraq and that a CBS-New York Times poll showed a drop in American confidence in the president's skill in handling crises.
Specifically, the poll found growing doubts about whether the Iraq war was worth the costs. Only 41 percent said it was, while 53 percent said it was not, although about half said it was worth removing Saddam from power.
Bush said he did not make decisions based on polls.
"Sometimes the American people like the decisions I make; sometimes they don't. But they need to know I make tough decisions, based upon what I think is right, given the intelligence I know, in order to do my job, which is to secure this country and to bring peace," Bush said.
He made an appearance on the White House South Lawn, before making a day trip to Milwaukee, to combat the impression that Kay had come up empty in the search for the weapons of mass destruction.
Kay's team is not expected to have its final report for six to nine months.
The report said Iraq's weapons programs spanned more than two decades, involved thousands of people and billions of dollars, and were shielded by security and deception.
"Specifically Dr. Kay's team discovered what the report calls, and I quote, dozens of WMD-related program activities, and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations during the inspections that began in late 2002," Bush said.
Bush said Kay's findings made clear that "Saddam Hussein actively deceived the international community, that Saddam Hussein was in clear violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441, and that Saddam Hussein was a danger to the world."
Democrats saw it differently.
California Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the minority leader in the House of Representatives told reporters after meeting with Kay: "I have concluded that there was no imminent threat."
Michigan Democratic Senator Carl Levin said the fact that no weapons have been found came "despite the intelligence that was given to us prior to the war by the administration."
Secretary of State Colin Powell, who outlined the case against Iraq last February 5 to the U.N. Security Council, said it was clear from the Kay report that the Iraqis had kept their weapons programs intact "and they were just waiting to see if they could break out of sanctions" and start the programs up again.