President George W. Bush said on Thursday he was "right to take action" in Iraq even though a new US report found that Baghdad had no stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction and that its nuclear program had decayed.
"Based on all the information we have today, I believe we were right to take action and America is safer today with Saddam Hussein in prison," Bush told reporters on the White House South Lawn just before heading off on the campaign trail.
Bush insisted the report showed Saddam was a threat because he was trying to undermine international sanctions.
"He was doing so with the intent of restarting his weapons program once the world looked away," Bush said.
"He was a threat we had to confront," he added.
It was the first time Bush has commented on the report by Charles Duelfer, the CIA special adviser who led the hunt for unconventional weapons, since the findings were released on Wednesday.
The report came as Bush was gearing up for a crucial debate against his Democratic challenger Senator John Kerry on Friday in St. Louis.