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Bush Makes Three Mistakes While Trying to Cite One
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - While struggling unsuccessfully this week to think of a single mistake he has made since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, President Bush (news - web sites) committed three factual errors about weapons finds in Libya, the White House said on Wednesday.
Reuters Photo
Bush, long known for his grammatical conundrums and confusing phraseology, told reporters twice during Tuesday’s prime-time news conference that 50 tons of mustard gas were discovered at a turkey farm in Libya.
On the second occasion, he was responding to a reporter who asked him to identify the biggest mistake he had made since the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington that killed nearly 3,000 people and prompted the invasions of Iraq (news - web sites) and Afghanistan (news - web sites).
He could not. But as he searched for an answer, the Republican president reaffirmed his decision to invade Iraq and said weapons of mass destruction may still lie hidden there.
“They could still be there. They could be hidden, like the 50 tons of mustard gas in a turkey farm,” said Bush, referring to Libya’s voluntary disclosure of weapons in March.
The next day, the White House said the accurate figure for the Libyan mustard gas was 23.6 metric tons, or 26 short tons, not 50 tons.
Moreover, the substance was found at different locations across Libya, not at a turkey farm. And observers did not find mustard gas on the farm at all, but rather unfilled chemical munitions, the White House acknowledged.
“The president misspoke and we just want to correct the record,” explained White House spokesman Scott McClellan.
Reports on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, which Bush cited as justification for the March 2003 invasion, have proved to be a political mine field for the president.
Bush agreed under pressure to set up a commission to investigate prewar weapons intelligence failures early this year, just as his 2004 reelection campaign got under way.
His decision came after a Bush claim that Iraq had sought uranium from Niger was shown to be based on forged documents. Other assertions of weapons stashes, including some made by Iraqis intent on persuading Washington to invade their homeland to oust Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), were also found to be wrong.