Bush faults CIA for error on Iraq nuclear bid

ENTEBBE, Uganda — President Bush yesterday said the CIA approved the use of erroneous intelligence in his State of the Union address that accused Iraq of trying to buy nuclear weapons material from Africa, although the White House acknowledged its vetting needs to be tightened up.

Hours later in Washington, CIA Director George J. Tenet said his agency made a “mistake” by allowing Mr. Bush to cite the information provided by the British government even though analysts were concerned about its accuracy.

“These 16 words should never have been included in the text written for the president,” Mr. Tenet said about the claim Iraq tried to get uranium from Niger.

“Let me be clear about several things right upfront,” he said in a statement. “First, CIA approved the president’s State of the Union address before it was delivered. Second, I am responsible for the approval process in my agency. And third, the president had every reason to believe that the text presented to him was sound.”

Mr. Tenet’s statement was released after he spoke with National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, who told reporters on Air Force One that Mr. Tenet never objected to the final draft of the speech, which he was given in advance.

“Now, I can tell you that if the CIA, the Director of Central Intelligence, had said ‘take this out of the speech,’ it would have been gone, without question,” Miss Rice said during a flight from South Africa to Uganda.

“I can assure you that the president did not knowingly, before the American people, say something that we thought to be false. It’s just outrageous that anybody would claim that,” said Miss Rice.

A growing number of Democrats, presidential candidates and journalists have been strongly intimating that the president’s statement on uranium in January’s State of the Union address demonstrated his willingness to exaggerate the case for war against Iraq’s Saddam Hussein. News reports have quoted unnamed CIA officials as saying they had warned the White House not to include the uranium accusation in the speech.

Earlier yesterday, Connecticut Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman, a presidential candidate and strong backer of the war, demanded a congressional investigation.

“We now know that the information in the State of the Union was false and misled the American people,” Mr. Lieberman said. “This breaks the basic bond of trust we must have with our leaders in times of war and terrorism.”

Sen. Richard J. Durbin, an Illinois Democrat who voted against the war, took the floor yesterday demanding answers.

“The purpose of my speech was to say that whoever misled the president and the American people must be held accountable,” Mr. Durbin said. “I hope the president focuses on this immediately upon his return from Africa and removes this person.”

Mr. Durbin characterized as “backpedaling” the explanations given by Miss Rice and that “the British continue to stand by their report.”

“Now she’s trying to salvage what she can,” Mr. Durbin said. “That’s her job.”

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