"Our administration took care of a source of instability in Iraq. Envision a world in which Saddam Hussein was rushing for a nuclear weapon to compete against Iran. He was a significant source of instability," Bush told the US broadcaster, whose reporter reminded him that Iraq was more unstable nearly four years after the invasion.

"Well, no question, decisions have made things unstable.

"I think history is going to look back and see a lot of ways we could have done things better. No question about it," Bush said in an interview to be broadcast Sunday during the CBS program "60 Minutes".

Bush lost the backing of Republican majorities in both houses of Congress in November elections, largely over voter dissatisfaction with his conduct of the war.

He has declared a new strategy for the war in an effort to head off opposition Democrats now controlling Congress. However, his call for an additional 21,500 US troops may not convince Democrats that the war in winnable.

Toppling Saddam was not a mistake, however, Bush told CBS.

"My decision to remove Saddam Hussein was the correct decision in my judgment. We didn't find the weapons we thought we would find or the weapons everybody thought he had. But he was a significant source of instability," Bush told CBS.

"We liberated that country from a tyrant. I think the Iraqi people owe the American people a huge debt of gratitude and I believe most Iraqi's express that."

The execution of Saddam's death sentence was mishandled, Bush said.

"I thought it was discouraging. It's important that that chapter of Iraqi history be closed," he said.

"They could have handled it a lot better."

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