Bush Officials Say Iraq War Worthwhile
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59177-2004Mar15.html?nav=headlinesBy KEN GUGGENHEIM
The Associated Press
Monday, March 15, 2004; 3:02 AM
WASHINGTON - Bush administration officials continue to hold out hope that weapons of mass destruction stockpiles will be found in Iraq. But even if they're not, they say, the war to topple Saddam Hussein was still worthwhile.
The war has become a top issue in the presidential campaign. Democrats say President Bush's poor planning and failure to build a broader international coalition have left the United States mired in a conflict with an extraordinary cost in lives and tax dollars.
The CIA's former chief weapons inspector, David Kay, has urged Bush to admit that the intelligence was wrong. But Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld declined to concede the point Sunday, saying 1,200 inspectors are continuing to look for easily concealed weapons in a country the size of California.
Powell had laid out the administration's case against Saddam in a speech before the United Nations one month before the war. Asked on "Fox News Sunday" if he felt responsible for giving bad information, Powell said: "I wasn't giving the world bad information. I was giving the world the information that we had at the time we had it."
Asked on CNN's "Late Edition" if the war in Iraq was worthwhile given that 564 U.S. soldiers have died there, Rumsfeld said, "Oh, my goodness, yes. There's just no question ... 25 million people in Iraq are free."