Paul Wolfowitz Defends Reasons For War
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Deputy Secretary of Defense, Paul Wolfowitz, is defending the Bush administration's reasons for going to war in Iraq. He says the nature of terrorism intelligence is, quote; "intrinsically murky", but that to prevent further terrorist acts, the United States had to act when it did. Joining us now from the White House now, live is correspondent Dana Bash. Good evening, Dana.</s>DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Andrea. Well, you know, ever since the whole question about whether or not the president used suspect intelligence in making the case for war during his State of the Union Address, you've heard more and more from administration officials talking about the war in Iraq through the prism of September 11th. The president and certainly his top aides have been talking about the fact that you need to go on offense and not be on defense, not wait for threats to present themselves essentially. And Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz made the rounds on the Sunday talk shows today and used an 800-page congressional report detailing some of the intelligence failures leading up to the September 11th attacks as evidence of the importance of the United States not waiting for Saddam Hussein, who was, the U.S. believed, a threat.</s>PAUL WOLFOWITZ, DEPUTY DEFENSE SECRETARY: The basic conclusion here is that we should have connected the dots. We should have seen in this murky picture of terrorism intelligence what was coming to hit us. Well, if you wait until the terrorism picture is clear, you're going to wait until after something terrible has happened.</s>BASH: Now, murky was sort of the watchword of the day. The defense secretary also said -- admitted -- that perhaps some of the intelligence linking al Qaeda to Iraq was murky and that certainly set off one of the Democratic critics of the administration, Carl Levin, who said that, boy, he said, it sure didn't sound murky before the war. He said that there were clear connections and arguments of clear connections coming from the administration. Now, Andrea, this is not the only question that the administration is facing. It's not only about the past. It's also about the future, how much this operation is going to cost, how long American troops will be there, and the whole question of the safety of American troops as we are now hearing almost daily attacks and killings of American troops. These are issues that two administration officials will be facing when this coming week sets in. They will be facing questions from Capitol Hill at two hearings this coming week, both about the reconstruction and about how much this is all going to cost -- Andrea.</s>KOPPEL: Dana, is there any sense that you've gotten from talking to your sources in the White House as to just what the administration would like to do with Saddam Hussein if, in fact, they capture him alive?</s>BASH: That's a very good question, and it's a question that I'm sure that they are contemplating, you know, very carefully because, you know, it's unclear exactly what would happen. Obviously, they would have a lot of questions for him, but he would be essentially -- probably be tried as a war criminal. But these are issues that they didn't have to face, obviously, with the two sons. Those two sons were killed. You know, it's almost like they're not going there at this point. But there clearly must be discussions and planning behind the scenes for exactly what would happen if they did capture Saddam Hussein alive.</s>KOPPEL: I'm sure one of the questions will be where the weapons of mass destruction are. Dana Bash at the White House. Thank you so much. For a full and complete look at all the day's developments from Iraq to Washington, D.C. and all points in between, log on to cnn.com. A key concession today by the Israeli government. The decision to release more than 500 Palestinian prisoners and what impact this may have on the roadmap to peace. The story after the break. Also, airline pilots getting anti-terrorism training and getting licensed to carry a gun in the cockpit. And later, the legal fight against terrorism and why a defense attorney was charged with crimes while defending her client.