Bush confident of finding banned Iraqi weapons

President hits back at critics on WMD question

President Bush = tells an=20 audience at a Virginia community college that Iraq's Saddam = Hussein=20 "is no longer a threat to the free world."

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= CNN's David Ensor=20 examines claims that the Bush administration = overstated the=20 threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (part = 1)

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= Ensor examines=20 replies to claims the Bush administration overstated = the=20 threat of Iraqi weapons (part 2)
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=95 U.N.=20 heads to Iraqi nuke plant

=95 Bush=20 vows truth on weapons

=95 Blix:=20 'No surprise' if WMD found

=95 = Report:=20 British source a top Iraqi

=95 CIA = stands by mobile lab=20 = intel

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=95 Interactive: Who's=20 who in Iraq

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush dismissed what he called=20 "revisionist history" about the war in Iraq on Tuesday, and his = spokesman=20 said the president is still confident a Pentagon-led search will = find=20 Iraq's suspected weapons of mass destruction.

Bush has said the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was necessary to = strip=20 Baghdad of stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons. Two = months after=20 former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's ouster, no such weapons have = been=20 found.

Bush said Tuesday that Saddam's ouster removed a threat to the = United=20 States and its allies.

"I know there's a lot of revisionist history now going on, but = one=20 thing is certain -- he is no longer a threat to the free world, = and the=20 people of Iraq are free," he said during a speech at a community = college=20 in Virginia.

It was the second day in a row that Bush has used the = "revisionist"=20 label to hit back at critics who are questioning the president's=20 justification for war. Bush and his main ally in the Iraq war, = British=20 Prime Minister Tony Blair, have been accused of overstating the = Iraqi=20 threat before the war.

Robin Cook, Blair's former House of Commons leader, said = Tuesday that=20 evidence that did not support the government's warnings of an = Iraqi threat=20 was ignored.

"I think it would probably be fair to say that there was a = selection of=20 evidence to support the conclusion rather than a conclusion that = arose=20 from a full consideration of the evidence," Cook, a former foreign = secretary, told a parliamentary committee.

Before the war, Bush, Blair and other officials argued that = action was=20 necessary against Iraq because it had chemical and biological = weapons and=20 was trying to obtain nuclear weapons. They warned that Saddam = could=20 provide the weapons to terrorists to attack the United States and = its=20 allies.

"We made it clear to the dictator of Iraq that he must disarm," = Bush=20 said Tuesday, not specifically mentioning weapons of mass = destruction. "We=20 asked other nations to join us in seeing to it that he would = disarm, and=20 he chose not to do so, so we disarmed him."

Iraq repeatedly insisted that it had destroyed its chemical and = biological weapons, as required by the cease-fire that ended the = Persian=20 Gulf War in 1991. U.N. inspectors found no sign of such weapons, = but they=20 said Baghdad was unable to account for chemical or biological = weapons it=20 claimed to have destroyed. The United States and Britain argued = that=20 Baghdad had hidden them.

"We still are in an environment where whatever they hid and = whatever=20 they concealed could remain hidden and concealed," White House = spokesman=20 Ari Fleischer said.

Bush "has every confidence the intelligence he received was = accurate=20 intelligence, and weapons of mass destruction will be found," he = said.

Saddam's government collapsed April 9 ahead of advancing U.S. = troops.=20 Those troops are still facing resistance from his supporters in = Iraq and=20 have struggled to restore basic services, as well as law and = order.

Since Bush declared the end of major combat operations in May, = 50=20 American troops have been killed in ambushes or accidents in = Iraq.

After searching more than 300 sites suspected of harboring = weapons of=20 mass destruction, all U.S. forces have found are two = tractor-trailers that=20 Pentagon officials say could have been used as mobile biological = weapons=20 laboratories. A 1,300-member Pentagon-led survey team has taken = over the=20 search effort.

Fleischer said the Clinton administration and numerous members = of=20 Congress, including several Democrats planning to challenge Bush = in 2004,=20 also believed Iraq harbored banned weapons.

"The president has said before that he is patient, the American = people=20 are patient, and he is confident that in time we will find this,"=20 Fleischer said.

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