Bush Admits Some ‘Dual-Use Technology’ Was Sold to Iraq

President Bush said Thursday that he “overstated a little bit” when he claimed during the final presidential debate that no U.S. technology was used in Iraq’s nuclear-weapons program.

But Bush downplayed the role of American computers and other equipment discovered in Iraq’s nuclear facilities by U.N. inspectors. He said a limited amount of U.S. material had been sold to Baghdad for commercial purposes and illegally switched to military uses by the Iraqis.

In response to criticism from independent presidential candidate Ross Perot in Monday night’s debate, Bush said there was not a “scintilla of evidence” that U.S. technology helped Iraq’s nuclear program. He had issued similar blanket denials twice in recent months.

“Maybe I overstated a little bit, but there has been approved what they call dual-use technology,” Bush said on CBS-TV’s “This Morning” when asked about his comment. “And I think some of that obviously ended up over there. What I’m talking about is something that really furthered their nuclear capability.”

Bush’s explanation came a day after his debate comment was challenged by the former head of the U.N. inspection teams and other weapons experts. The State Department had backed away from the President’s flat denial on Wednesday, acknowledging that some U.S. technology was used in Iraq’s nuclear effort, but saying it was an insignificant amount.

The Customs Service, Pentagon and Commerce Department are investigating how American-made computers, an electron-beam welder and other equipment got to the nuclear development sites in Iraq, according to a customs spokesman.

In his television interview, Bush suggested that the United States was unaware at the time that Iraq had moved technology from commercial to military facilities. However, Defense Department officials and intelligence analysts had warned of that possibility as early as 1985, according to declassified Administration records.