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Bush: CIA Cleared State of the Union Speech
VOA News
11 Jul 2003, 12:57 UTC

President Bush says U.S. intelligence agencies cleared his State of the Union addess, which included a now discredited claim that Iraq tried to procure uranium from Africa. The president made the remarks in Entebbe, Uganda, the fourth stop of his African tour.

Earlier, U.S. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice told reporters traveling with the President that CIA Director George Tenet had cleared the speech in its entirety. She said if he had a problem with any part of the speech, he did not share that opinion with the White House.

The Washington Post reports in its Friday edition that the CIA had attempted as early as September, four months before the State of the Union Address, to persuade the British government to drop a reference in an intelligence paper to Iraqi attempts to obtain uranium.

Several U.S. news organizations reported Thursday that CIA officials who saw a draft of the President's speech expressed reservations about the reference to the accusation. On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell denied President Bush misled the American people about Iraq's weapons programs, and said the issue has been "overblown."

Mr. Powell said Mr. Bush believed in the accuracy of intelligence claiming Saddam Hussein had tried to buy uranium from Africa when he included that information in his January State of the Union address. The White House acknowledged Monday the claims should not have been included in the address.

Meanwhile, President Bush's closest ally in the Iraq war, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Thursday he is "absolutely confident" that proof of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction will be found. Concerns over intelligence used to justify the war have prompted some members of the U.S. Congress, including many Democrats, to call for a full review. The U.S. Senate voted unanimously Thursday to encourage President Bush to ask NATO or the United Nations for help with peacekeeping and rebuilding in Iraq.

Democrats are warning the Bush administration the United States could become bogged down in a prolonged guerrilla conflict in Iraq unless the peacekeeping force is internationalized.

Also Thursday, General Tommy Franks said U.S. forces must remain in Iraq. He said the world security situation changed dramatically after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. General Franks is the former commander of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On Wednesday, the British Broadcasting Corporation quoted what it called "very senior sources" in the Blair government as saying they doubt the weapons will ever be located. The BBC says the officials believe the weapons existed - but that Saddam Hussein hid or destroyed them before the U.S.-led invasion in March.

Some information for this report provided by AP and Reuters.