Reuters : Bush: Leak of Iraq report created "misimpressions"

Bush: Leak of Iraq report created "misimpressions"

by Caren Bohan | September 30, 2006

WASHINGTON, Sept 30 (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush on Saturday hit back at critics who have cited an intelligence report as evidence that the Iraq war has worsened the terrorism threat.

Bush said the leaks of the report that appeared in media a week ago created "misimpressions" of its findings. Bush later declassified 3-1/2 pages of the National Intelligence Estimate prepared by the 16 U.S. spy agencies.

The report's judgment that the Iraq war has become a "cause celebre" for Islamic extremists was seen by Democrats as bolstering their election-year argument that Bush's policies had made America less safe.

Bush used his weekly radio address to challenge that interpretation.

"Some in Washington have selectively quoted from this document to make the case that by fighting the terrorists in Iraq, we are making our people less secure here at home," Bush said.

"This argument buys into the enemy's propaganda that the terrorists attack us because we are provoking them," he said.

Bush said the leaks of the report "created a heated debate in our nation's capital, and a lot of misimpressions about the document's conclusions."

The NIE report put the White House on the defensive as Bush and his Republican Party try to convince Americans that they are the toughest on security ahead of November elections in which they are fighting to keep control of Congress.

Democrats hope the Nov. 7 election will be a referendum on the Iraq war, which is increasingly unpopular with Americans.

The White House also grappled this week with questions raised by a new book, "State of Denial," by journalist Bob Woodward, who claims Bush resisted demands to boost U.S. troops in Iraq and was misleading Americans about the level of violence there.

The NIE report said the Iraq war was giving rise to a new generation of jihadist leaders and operatives and was "breeding a deep resentment of U.S. involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement."

But Bush, in his radio address, pointed to parts of the report that he said back up his case that pulling out of Iraq would only serve to embolden terrorists.

"Should jihadists leaving Iraq perceive themselves, and be perceived, to have failed, we judge fewer fighters will be inspired to carry on the fight," the report said.

Bush encouraged Americans to read the NIE report for themselves. But Stephen Walt, a professor of international relations at Harvard University, said the document was highly damaging to the administration because it exposed mistakes.

"They have done things that they ought not to have done -- such as invading Iraq -- and they have left undone things that they ought to have done -- such as a serious effort at Israeli-Palestinian peace," Walt said. "As a result, they have made jihadis and other extremists look like heroes."

(Additional reporting by Steve Holland)