Bush Says Iran Still Dangerous Despite NIE Findings

WASHINGTON — A defiant President Bush insisted Tuesday that Iran remains "dangerous," vowing to seek tougher international sanctions against Tehran, despite fresh U.S. intelligence concluding that the government halted its nuclear weapons program four years ago.

Bush cast the findings - given "high confidence" in a new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) - as "a warning signal" that Iran could still be seeking such weapons.

"I believed before the NIE that Iran was dangerous, and I believe after the NIE that Iran is dangerous," Bush said during a White House news conference. "My opinion hasn't changed."

The intelligence estimate, expressing the collective judgment of all 16 U.S. spy agencies, concluded that Iran almost certainly sought nuclear weapons through a secret program beginning in the late 1980s. The program was halted in 2003 for at least several years, the NIE concluded, and probably remains on ice. It also assessed with "moderate-high confidence" that Tehran is keeping open the option to develop this capability.

"What's to say they couldn't start another covert nuclear program?" asked Bush.

"Nothing has changed in this NIE that says, OK, why don't we just stop worrying about it," he said. "Quite the contrary. I think the NIE makes it clear that Iran needs to be taken seriously as a threat to peace."

From Capitol Hill, the president's political opponents pounced, accusing Bush of ignoring or cherry picking intelligence to support his contention that Iran's purported efforts to attain nuclear weapons pose a potential threat to U.S. interests and the security of the oil-rich Middle East.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joe Biden, D-Del., said Bush's reaction recalled the administration's use of intelligence to help make the case for war against Iraq.

"After all that Americans have been through, for this president to knowingly disregard or misrepresent intelligence about an issue of war and peace, is outrageous," Biden, a long-shot presidential hopeful, said in a statement. "It's exactly what he did in the run-up to the war in Iraq."

Other Democrats leveled similar criticism during an NPR News debate among Democratic presidential hopefuls in Iowa.

"This administration and President Bush continues to not let facts get in the way of his ideology," Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., said. "That's been the problem with their foreign policy generally. They should have stopped the saber rattling, should have never started it, and they need now to aggressively move on the diplomatic front."

Bush based his case for war against Iraq chiefly on his claim that Baghdad had stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons. No stockpiles of such weapons have been found since U.S. forces invaded Iraq, where 3,883 U.S. troops have died.

Bush has repeatedly denied charges that he is planning military strikes against Iran, saying instead that he is stressing diplomacy as a means to induce Tehran to publicly abandon its nuclear weapon aims.

Indeed, the NIE states that Iran's nuclear weapons program probably was halted "primarily in response to international pressure," and that the kind of diplomacy Bush discussed could have more influence over Tehran than U.S. intelligence officials previously believed.

"The best way to ensure that the world is peaceful in the future is for the international community to continue to work together to say to the Iranians, we're going to isolate you," Bush said.

Bush bristled at a reporter's suggestion that he appeared "dispirited" during the 43-minute press conference.

"Psychology 101 ain't working," Bush said, biting off his words and leaning into the podium. "I understand the issues. I clearly see the problems, and I'm going to use the NIE to continue to rally the international community for the sake of peace."

Before Tuesday's press conference, Bush spoke by telephone with Russian President Vladimir Putin, explaining his view that the NIE was cause for tightening global sanctions against Iran. The United Nations has imposed economic sanctions against Tehran, and the U.N. Security Council was scheduled to meet as early as Friday to discuss the possibility of adding to them.

While Iran dominated the news conference, Bush also used it to press Congress to pass his request for $196 billion to fund fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan next year.

He praised a weekend referendum in Venezuela, where voters dealt a surprising defeat to President Hugo Chavez, an outspoken critic of Bush.

"The Venezuelan people rejected one-man rule," said Bush. "They voted for democracy."

Bush showed a rare glimpse of his paternal instincts, when asked about the gang-rape of a Saudi woman who has been sentenced to 200 lashes of the whip and six months in prison for being alone in a car with a man to whom she was not married.

"My first thoughts were these: What happens if this happened to my daughter? How would I react? I'd have been very emotional, of course. I'd have been angry at those who committed the crime and I'd be angry at a state that didn't support the victim."

Bush said he did not raise the issue, however, with Saudi's King Abdullah when the two met at last week's Middle East peace summit in nearby Annapolis, Md.

"He knows our position loud and clear," said Bush.