Bush: Iraq Was 'Gathering Threat'

President Bush gave a broad defense of his decision to invade Iraq on Thursday, saying he would still go to war even if he knew beforehand that almost a year after the invasion no weapons would be found.

The president's remarks came on a day when his CIA director, George Tenet, gave a speech striking back at critics of prewar intelligence.

Thursday marked one year to the day after Secretary of State Colin Powell laid out the U.S. case for war to the United Nations — a case that is now under scrutiny.

Mr. Bush's chief weapons inspector, David Kay, recently concluded there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, contrary to Mr. Bush's warnings. The president has said he will appoint a commission to study the performance of U.S. intelligence services.

Tenet defended his agency's role in assessing Iraq's capabilities, and denied any political influence on its reporting. But Tenet also said analysts had never said Iraq was "an imminent threat."

The president, however, said Iraq was a "a gathering threat."

"The dictatorship of Saddam Hussein was one of the most brutal, corrupt and dangerous regimes in the world. For years the dictator funded terrorists, and gave reward money for suicide bombings."

Mr. Bush said Saddam is today "sitting in a prison cell, and he will be sitting in a courtroom to answer for his crimes."

But, he conceded, "As the chief weapons inspector has said, we have not yet found the weapons we thought were there." Mr. Bush added that inspectors have found possible evidence of weapons programs.

"Knowing what I knew then and knowing what I know today, America did the right thing in Iraq," Mr. Bush said. The line drew long applause from his audience of military personnel and cadets.

"The liberation of Iraq removed an enemy of this country and made America more secure," he said.

Mr. Bush's visit to the Port of Charleston was a political postscript to the Democratic presidential primary that took place in South Carolina on Tuesday and gave Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., his first victory. Many Bush aides fear Edwards could give Mr. Bush a strong challenge in the backbone of the president's support, the South.

With the Democrats packed up and gone, Mr. Bush used the visit to this state he won decisively in 2000 to draw attention to what the aides believe is a political strong suit: the war on terrorism.

Mr. Bush spoke with the Charleston Harbor at his back, a U.S. Coast Guard cutter parked just behind him to reinforce his message. The White House directed the ship's captain to reposition slightly just before the president spoke.

During his speech, Mr. Bush touted his administration's efforts to keep dangerous cargo out of the country, highlighting proposals to push port-security spending up by 13 percent over last year.

"This is one of the busiest container ports in our country, it's an important hub of commerce," Mr. Bush said, his suit coat and hair raked by stiff winds. "We will make sure that not only is the port strong for economic reasons, we will make sure that the port defends the people — is ready to defend against the threats of a new era, that this port is secure and safe for not only the people of South Carolina but for the people of the United States of America."

The White House said Mr. Bush was proposing to spend $1.9 billion through the Department of Homeland Security, an amount it said represented a 13 percent increase over spending in the current budget year. Of that, $102 million would go to the Coast Guard to help it implement security standards for ships, port facilities and "critical offshore platforms."

Mr. Bush is trying to rebound from a spate of bad news, including the failure to find banned weapons in Iraq and soaring budget deficits — issues that are affecting his public approval ratings.

Two polls released Monday showed Democratic presidential front-runner John Kerry led Mr. Bush decisively in head-to-head matchups. The Massachusetts senator was leading Mr. Bush 54-46 in a CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll and 51-43 in a national poll by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. Both polls were taken over the weekend.

The president is itching to strike back at Kerry, the Massachusetts senator who has been sharply critical of Mr. Bush's decision to invade Iraq. Mr. Bush wants to put his own national-security performance on display against Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War hero.

White House officials maintained their standard denials that Mr. Bush's trip had anything to do with politics.

"This is an official trip. The president is making official remarks," said White House spokesman Taylor Gross.