Bush Dismisses Gloomy CIA Report on Iraq

Bush dismissed early reports on Al Qaeda and terrorists (while vacationing for a month on his ranch right before 9/11). He twisted other CIA intelligence to go to war in Iraq. America can't afford having such an intellectually challenged president who is led by the nose by idealoges in areas of leadership that is out of his league.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites), determined to put an optimistic face on deadly turmoil in Iraq (news - web sites), said on Tuesday that the CIA (news - web sites) was just guessing when it said the country was in danger of slipping into civil war.

"The CIA laid out several scenarios. It said that life could be lousy, life could be OK, life could be better. And they were just guessing as to what the conditions might be like," Bush told reporters during a picture-taking session with Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites) assailed Bush's judgment, asking a rally in Orlando: "Ladies and gentlemen, does that make you feel safer? Does that give you confidence that this president knows what he's talking about?

"This is the president of the United States today standing in New York City where he was answering questions about Iraq and his speech to the United Nations (news - web sites)," Kerry told thousands of supporters in a basketball arena. "And this what the president of the United States of America -- in the midst of a war at a moment of danger -- said."

Bush and Allawi met for 45 minutes on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

The CIA, which has been blamed for spectacular intelligence lapses involving the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and prewar Iraqi weapons capabilities, gave Bush a report last July that presented a bleak outlook for Iraq.

The classified document, known as a National Intelligence Estimate, predicted three possible scenarios ranging from a tenuous stability to political fragmentation and civil war.

But Bush said he was confident Iraq would emerge as a peaceful democratic nation because of the determination of the Iraqi people to build a free society.

He said he expected Allawi's visit to the United States would help convince Americans not to be discouraged by disturbing news reports from the country.

"The Iraqi citizens are defying the pessimistic predictions," Bush said.

"The American people have seen horrible scenes on our TV screens. And the prime minister will be able to say to them that in spite of the sacrifices being made, in spite of the fact that Iraqis are dying, and U.S. troops are dying as well, that there is a will among the Iraqi people to succeed."

Allawi told reporters his interim government and its U.S.-led allies were winning against the insurgents but that progress was being ignored by media coverage.

In October 2002, a National Intelligence Estimate argued that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction and helped the administration justify its decision to go to war. No large stockpiles of such weapons have been found.