"Iraq had a weapons program. Intelligence throughout the decade showed he had a weapons program. I am absolutely convinced, with time, we'll find out that they did have a weapons program," he told reporters.

The Bush administration has come under heavy fire from opposition Democrats and other critics at home and abroad who charge that it exaggerated the threat Saddam posed in order to win public support for the campaign.

US-led forces have yet to locate conclusive evidence backing the US leader's central case for war: that Saddam possessed chemical and biological weapons, pursued nuclear arms, and might one day have armed terrorists with them.

"History and time will prove that the United States made the absolute right decision in freeing the people of Iraq from the clutches of Saddam Hussein," the US leader told reporters after meeting with his cabinet.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Saddam's removal had created an environment in which Iraqis familiar with any weapons programs could now come forward, free of intimidation.

"For those who asked for patience before, they were never, ever going to find anything so long as Saddam Hussein was in power," he added in an apparent slap at supporters of continued UN inspections in Iraq.

Asked whether US credibility was on the line over oft-repeated charges that Saddam possessed banned weapons, Bush bristled, saying that the United States had accomplished its central mission by toppling Saddam.

"The credibility of this country is based upon our strong desire to make the world more peaceful, and the world is now more peaceful after our decision; The strong desire to make sure free nations are more secure, and free nations are now more secure; and the strong desire to spread freedom and the Iraqi people are now free."

Fleischer defended Bush's subtle shift from saying weapons will be found to saying that arms programs will be unearthed, saying the president believed both would be located.

"Programs in and of themselves give rise to tremendous concern. But it's the weapons, themselves, as well," said Fleischer. "The exact condition of the weaponry remains to be seen."

Bush, who repeatedly linked Iraq to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network in the run up to the war, did so again, saying a Baghdad-based cell of the organization that carried out the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States had ordered the killing of a US aid worker in Jordan.

His comments came in response to a New York Times report that two high-ranking al-Qaeda suspects currently in US custody have told CIA interrogators the terror network did not work with Saddam's regime.

Fleischer called a pending congressional review of the case for war "appropriate" but downplayed the likelihood of unearthing any new information.

"Congress has always been part of this. Congress was provided information both in a declassified and a classified manner in the months and, indeed, the years leading up to the war," he said.

Democratic candidates to unseat Bush in 2004, apparently sensing a weakness, have stepped up their attacks on the administration over allegedly overstating or manipulating the intelligence.

"Even if we should find weapons weapons of mass destruction, that won't disguise the fact that they misled the American people," Senator Bob Graham said Sunday, accusing the administration of soft-pedaling "the level of uncertainty" in intelligence reports.

But recent opinion polls show a slim majority of Americans say the war was justified whether or not banned weapons are found.

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