WASHINGTON - President Bush is brushing aside the failure so far of U.S. and British forces to find mass-killing weapons in Iraq, insisting that time will prove him right.

Whether or not they find weapons of mass destruction doesn't matter, because the rationale for the war changed. Americans like a good picture. And one photograph of an Iraqi child kissing a U.S. soldier is more powerful than two months of debate on the floor of Congress.

Republican pollster Frank Luntz

But he's also hedging his comments by putting less emphasis on the hunt for deposed President Saddam Hussein's weapons and talking more about the Iraqi people's newfound freedom.

Bush's advisers appear hopeful that such an approach can continue to buy time for the White House, and that, at some point, a cache of weapons will be found that will enable Bush to claim vindication.

At home and abroad, war critics are suggesting there either were lapses in intelligence gathering or a deliberate exaggeration of Saddam's arms capability by Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair to justify invasion.

Yet the administration is digging in its heels thus far and does not appear to be looking for a potential scapegoat within U.S. intelligence agencies or at the Pentagon.

CIA Director George Tenet, a Clinton administration holdover, might seem an easy target. Senior administration officials said Monday, however, that Bush has full confidence in Tenet, and his job did not seem endangered.

The issue of the missing weapons of mass destruction has turned into a major political crisis for Blair in London. So far, it has been less of one for Bush. Polls suggest the issue isn't as big a one to Americans as it is in Britain.

"Whether or not they find weapons of mass destruction doesn't matter, because the rationale for the war changed," suggested Republican pollster Frank Luntz. "Americans like a good picture. And one photograph of an Iraqi child kissing a U.S. soldier is more powerful than two months of debate on the floor of Congress."

Most Democrats still seem reluctant to take on Bush directly over the Iraq war. But as time goes on and no weapons are found, more seem likely to step forward.

Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the senior Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, is among those calling for a congressional investigation. "There is significant evidence that the intelligence was shaded in order to support a policy presumably of the administration," Levin said.

Levin suggests U.S. "credibility is on the line."

Asked Monday whether he believed America's credibility was on the line, Bush told reporters: "I'm not exactly sure what that means. I am absolutely convinced with time we'll find out that they did have a weapons program.

"The credibility of this country is based upon our strong desire to make the world more peaceful, and the world is now more peaceful after our decision," Bush added.

His comments continued a recent trend in which the president and top administration aides have been de-emphasizing the hunt for banned weapons and stressing Saddam's brutality.

"The Iraqi people are now free and are learning the habits of freedom and the responsibilities that come with freedom," Bush said.

Perhaps tellingly, Bush did not refer to "weapons of mass destruction" but only to Iraq's "weapons program."

Secretary of State Colin Powell, who made the U.S. case to the United Nations earlier this year that mass-killing weapons existed, has insisted over the past few days that his evidence was solid. It had to be, he said during the weekend on "Fox News Sunday," "because it wasn't the president's credibility and my credibility on the line; it was the credibility of the United States of America."

Michele Flournoy, a former Pentagon war planner now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said, "It's hard to tell if there was a breakdown in intelligence or a breakdown in the way intelligence was used.

"There are many layers to this. It's going to be like an archaeological dig. But for now, it seems that the administration is sticking to its story," Flournoy said.

As to the issue of the quality of U.S. intelligence, Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, has said that Bush "gets his intelligence from his director of central intelligence."

That would appear to put Tenet right in the bull's-eye.

But White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Monday that the president "unquestionably" had faith in Tenet and the job he was doing.

The lack of more information on an Iraqi weapons program does not suggest a breakdown in intelligence, Fleischer said. "I think what it suggests is a need for patience," he said.

Fleischer also noted that Tenet is playing a key role in advancing the U.S-backed Middle East plan to help the Palestinians rebuild their police forces and security apparatus.

© 2003 The Associated Press

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