Bush has "confidence" in CIA chief despite Iraq intelligence fault

ABUJA (AFP) Jul 12, 2003
George W. Bush said Saturday he had "confidence" in CIA director George Tenet, who took the blame for a false claim on Iraq's alleged nuclear program included in the US president's State of the Union address.

Bush gave the endorsement to Tenet as he met Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo on the final leg of his five-nation African tour.

"I've got confidence in George Tenet, I've got confidence in the men and women who work at the CIA. I look forward to working with them... as we win this war on terror," he told reporters.

Asked if he considered the controversy over the address to be finished, Bush answered: "I do."

Tenet moved Friday to take the heat off Bush over criticism that his January 28 address to the nation contained false claims that the former Iraqi regime sought to buy nuclear materials from Africa.

He took full responsibility for allowing into the speech report, since discredited, that Iraq had sought to acquire uranium in Niger to make a nuclear bomb.

In an appearance before reporters in Uganda on Friday, Bush had refused to take the blame for the transgression, saying the CIA had vetted his speech beforehand.

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