Bush Defends War in Iraq, Tenet

President Bush, in a television interview meant to launch his election-year counterattack against the Democrats, expressed confidence in the CIA director Saturday and pledged to cooperate with a new investigation of intelligence used to justify the invasion of Iraq.

Bush also brushed aside questions about why he wants the intelligence investigation to report its findings next year, after the November election.

“There is going to be ample time for the American people to assess whether or not I made a -- good calls, whether I used good judgment, whether or not I made the right decision in removing Saddam Hussein from power,” Bush told NBC’s Tim Russert, “and I look forward to that debate.”

Russert, host of “Meet the Press,” sat down with Bush in the Oval Office on Saturday morning in a one-hour interview to be broadcast in full at 8 a.m. today. The network released excerpts from the interview Saturday afternoon and aired portions on “NBC Nightly News.”

The interview was Bush’s first with Russert -- or any Sunday talk show host -- since he took office in January 2001. Typically, Cabinet secretaries or White House officials present the Bush administration’s viewpoints on the talk shows. Sometimes, Vice President Dick Cheney appears.

It is somewhat unusual for any president to submit to a one-on-one TV news interview. Bush’s appearance marked the first time a current president had appeared on the NBC show since Bill Clinton was interviewed in 1997, less than a year into his second term.

But Bush’s public approval ratings have been sagging, and the Democrats seeking to replace him have been criticizing him without letup in campaign stops across the country. The front-runner for the Democratic nomination, Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, said at a stop in Richmond, Va., on Saturday that Bush’s policies are outside the mainstream.

“I think running up irresponsible deficits that our children are going to pay for for years to come is extreme,” Kerry said. “I think losing the support of the world in our foreign policy represents an ideological extremism in their foreign policy. I don’t think they’re mainstream at all.”

According to NBC, Bush spoke at length about Kerry, the November election and a broad range of domestic and foreign policy topics in the interview.

But what was made public Saturday focused on the intelligence controversies and Iraq.

Bush gave his full support to embattled CIA Director George J. Tenet, a holdover from the Clinton administration.

Bush and the intelligence community have been on the defensive about pre-Iraqi war intelligence since former chief weapons investigator David Kay testified to Congress about the so-far fruitless hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Tenet last week delivered an impassioned defense of his agency’s analysis, saying that Hussein’s deceptive tactics led the CIA to believe that the Iraqi leader was developing and hoarding banned biological, chemical and nuclear weapons.

“I strongly believe the CIA is ably led by George Tenet,” Bush said in the NBC interview. Asked whether Tenet’s job was in jeopardy, Bush said: “No, not at all, not at all.”

On Friday, the president created a bipartisan commission to study the intelligence apparatus and how it tracks unconventional weapons. It is not scheduled to report its findings until March 2005.

“The reason why we gave it time is because we didn’t want it to be hurried,” Bush told Russert. “This is a strategic look, kind of a big-picture look about the intelligence-gathering capacities of the United States of America.”

Bush emphasized that the probe would extend beyond Iraq-related intelligence gathering to examine efforts directed at North Korea and the activities of Pakistani atomic scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has pardoned the scientist for illegally passing nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea.

“It’s important that this investigation take its time,” Bush said, though he acknowledged election-year pressures. “Look, we are in a political season.”

Asked whether he would testify before the commission he created, Bush paused. “Testify? I will be glad to visit with them. I will be glad to share with them knowledge. I will be glad to make recommendations, if they ask for some.”

Bush also asserted that the American military personnel killed in Iraq had sacrificed themselves for a just cause.

“Every life is precious,” Bush said. “Every person that is willing to sacrifice for this country deserves our praise.... It’s essential that I explain this properly to the parents of those who lost their lives. Saddam Hussein was dangerous, and I’m not just going to leave him in power and trust a madman. He’s a dangerous man. He had the ability to make weapons, at the very minimum.”

Times staff writer Maria L. La Ganga contributed to this report.