Powell and Rice defend U.S. basis for war
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U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell speaks Wednesday before a House committee.
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U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza Rice: Removing Saddam was 'the right decision.'
President Bush defends the Iraq invasion despite questions about prewar intelligence.
CIA Director George Tenet summarizes the agency's intelligence on Iraq's weapons capabilities.
CNN's Jamie McIntyre on Donald Rumsfeld's defense of U.S. prewar intelligence.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Two of President Bush's top advisers Wednesday defended his decision to invade Iraq despite finding no weapons of mass destruction there.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell presented his spirited defense during testimony Wednesday before the House International Relations Committee.
His appearance before the panel came as Democratic critics and others have raised questions about prewar intelligence on Iraq's weapons programs and the president's judgment in taking the nation to war.
Saddam "had to be dealt with" and "the president made the right decision" in going to war, Powell told the committee.
"The dictator is no longer filling up mass graves or building weapons of mass destruction," he said.
Bush's national security adviser Condoleezza Rice agreed that Saddam "was a dangerous man in the most dangerous part of the world." And, she said, Bush had to act in America's best interest.
"After 9/11, this president has borne a heavy burden to be certain that we are responding to threats and not simply allowing them to gather," she said.
Rice said the president promised after September 11 that he would do everything possible to avoid another attack on U.S. soil.
And she said he spoke Wednesday about how to stop the threat of attack by weapons of mass destruction. (Full story)
In Powell's remarks before a hearing on the State Department's budget, the secretary said he had no doubts a year ago that the Iraqi leader had weapons of mass destruction and the intent to use them.
He said his position was supported by "multisource intelligence" from several U.S. agencies, adding, "I took it with great confidence to the United Nations."
Former top U.S. weapons inspector David Kay said last month it was "highly unlikely" Iraq had significant stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction before the U.S.-led invasion. Under political pressure, Bush announced last week that a bipartisan commission would look into prewar intelligence in Iraq and other intelligence related to weapons of mass destruction.
Powell earlier had conceded that weapons of mass destruction have not yet been found in Iraq, but he said the search is not yet finished.
At Wednesday's hearing, Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-New York, lectured Powell with a withering attack on the Bush administration, saying the president is using "shifting justifications for the war" and "refuses to take personal responsibility for what is at best an intelligence disaster."
"We were sold a bill of goods, and the buck will stop well short of the president's desk," Ackerman said.
"The truth was murdered before the first shot was fired" in Iraq, he said, and the president now suffers "a complete lack of credibility."
But Rice said the invasion of Iraq is giving the United States more credibility.
"The word of the United States of the United Nations, whose resolution we enforced, that word is finally good," Rice said. "And as a result of the fact that that result is now credible, we're getting movement on proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in other parts of the world like Libya where Col. Gadhafi has voluntarily decided to disarm."
Regarding Iraq since the end of major combat operations, Powell said, "We are working hard with the new leadership to put together a new government."
The political handover of Iraq is scheduled by the end of June. A prominent Shiite cleric has opposed a U.S. plan for caucus-style elections for a national transitional assembly, demanding direct elections before the new government is installed.
Powell told the committee the ongoing insurgent attacks are directed against Iraqis rather than U.S. forces.
On Wednesday, a suicide car bomber killed 47 people, most of them men standing in line to join the new Iraqi army, Iraqi medical officials said. It was the second straight day suspected insurgents attacked while people were applying for jobs with the Iraqi security services. (Full story)
In the end, Powell said, the insurgents "will be defeated."
Powell predicted rapid political progress in Iraq, with the help of NATO, the European Union and the United Nations.
