In Search for Errors, Mistakes Are Made

While struggling unsuccessfully during his news conference this week to think of a single mistake he had made since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, President Bush committed three factual errors about weapon finds in Libya, the White House said Wednesday.

Bush, long known for his grammatical conundrums and confusing phraseology, told reporters twice during Tuesday’s news conference that 50 tons of mustard gas were discovered at a turkey farm in Libya.

On the second occasion, he was responding to a reporter who asked him to identify the biggest mistake he had made since Sept. 11.

He could not. But as he searched for an answer, the president reaffirmed his decision to invade Iraq and said weapons of mass destruction might still lie hidden there.

“They could still be there. They could be hidden, like the 50 tons of mustard gas in a turkey farm,” said Bush, referring to Libya’s voluntary disclosure of weapons in March.

Wednesday, the White House said the accurate figure for the Libyan mustard gas was 26 tons, not 50 tons.

Moreover, the substance was found at different locations in Libya, not at a turkey farm. And observers did not find mustard gas on the farm but, rather, unfilled chemical munitions, the White House said.

“We just want to correct the record,” White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said.