By Ronald Brownstein Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON —
President Bush on Tuesday retooled his original argument for the
Iraq war, justifying the U.S. military presence there as the solution to a problem that critics say the war itself caused.
More than two years ago, Bush argued that
Saddam Hussein's control over Iraq could make the nation a haven for terrorists. But in his nationally televised speech, Bush asserted that the tumult that has followed Hussein's removal created the same threat.
In the lead-up to the war, Bush presented the invasion of Iraq primarily as a means of preventing the Iraqi dictator from providing nuclear, biological or chemical weapons to terrorists.
After coalition forces failed to find evidence of such weapons, and several investigations did not uncover meaningful links between Hussein and Al Qaeda, the president increasingly stressed the possibility that creating a democracy in Iraq could encourage democratic reform across the Middle East.
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