(CBS) 
PELLEY: You know better than I do that many Americans feel that your administration has not been straight with the country, has not been honest. To those people you say what?

BUSH: On what issue?

PELLEY: Well, sir . . .

BUSH: Like the weapons of mass destruction?

PELLEY: No weapons of mass destruction.

BUSH: Yeah.

PELLEY: No credible connection between 9/11 and Iraq.

BUSH: Yeah.

PELLEY: The Office of Management and Budget said this war would cost somewhere between $50 billion and $60 billion and now we're over 400.

BUSH: I gotcha. I gotcha. I gotcha.

PELLEY: The perception, sir, more than any one of those points, is that the administration has not been straight with . . .

BUSH: Well, I strongly disagree with that, of course. There were a lot of people, both Republicans and Democrats, who felt there were weapons of mass destruction. Many of the leaders in the Congress spoke strongly about the fact that Saddam Hussein had weapons prior to my arrival in Washington, DC. And we're all looking at the same intelligence. So I strongly reject that this administration hasn't been straight with the American people. The minute we found out they didn't have weapons of mass destruction, I was the first to say so. Scott, all I can do is just tell the truth, tell people exactly what's on my mind, which is what I do.

PELLEY: You seem to be saying that you may have been wrong but you weren't dishonest.

BUSH: Oh, absolutely. Everybody was wrong on weapons of mass destruction. I would ask people to go back and look at the comments of many of the Democrat leadership prior to my arrival in Washington, DC, people who'd looked at the same intelligence I looked at. I'd look at the people's comments when the run-up to the war. They had looked at the same intelligence I had looked at. It was pretty well universally thought he had weapons. And there was an intelligence failure, which we're trying to address. But I was as surprised as anybody he didn't have them.

PELLEY: When was it that you first found out or it dawned on you that, indeed, there were no weapons of mass destruction? And I wonder, did you think, "What have I done?"

BUSH: I wondered what went wrong, because you can't conduct this war on terror unless you've got good intelligence. And so the first thing I did was I put a commission together to take a good, hard look at what did go

PELLEY: You had to be angry as hell.

BUSH: Yeah, I wasn't happy. I don't think there was exact moment. I mean, I think when we got in there, people anticipated that we would find the weapons of mass destruction. The different reports, the different investigations, you know, those guys that went over there on behalf of the agency, they came back and made their reports pretty well, convinced me that the intelligence was wrong.

PELLEY: What should the American people look for in this war plan? When will they know whether it's working or not?

BUSH: Well, I'll know whether or not the Iraqis will do what they said they'd do here pretty quick. In other words, they said they'll commit some troops into Baghdad, more troops into Baghdad. We'll know pretty soon.
One of the interesting things is he said he would name a general to be the military governor or military commander of Baghdad. And he's done that. He, Maliki, has done that. We'll know whether or not the rules of engagement will be altered for political purposes. And so we'll have a pretty good indication pretty early.

PELLEY: We'll know in weeks?

BUSH: I'd say months as to whether or not the will is there and whether or not they're putting in the capability they said they would do.

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