By Dana Milbank

Tuesday, July 29, 2003; Page A15

For President Bush and the press corps that covers him, the month of July has been one long cat-and-mouse game. Five times, questioners have invited the president to take responsibility for the Iraq-uranium allegation that found its way into his State of the Union address. Five times, Bush has deflected the question.

Our tale begins on July 9, when Randy Mikkelsen of Reuters asked Bush if he regretted that the 16-word accusation was fueling charges that he misled the public. Bush responded by discussing the general merits of the war. "Look, there is no doubt in my mind that Saddam Hussein was a threat to the world peace," he said. Asked whether he still thought Iraqis "were trying to buy nuclear materials in Africa," Bush answered, "One thing is for certain: He's not trying to buy anything right now."

Two days later, NBC's David Gregory tried again. As Bush wrapped up an appearance with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, Gregory hectored the president into taking a question by calling out above the Bush aides who tried to end the session: "Are you upset about it, and should somebody be held accountable, sir?"

"I gave a speech to the nation that was cleared by the intelligence services," the president replied. Gregory persisted: "But, sir, how did it get into your speech if it was erroneous?"

Museveni put an end to the session.

The dogged questioning might seem a bit excessive to some. After all, Bush is ultimately responsible to the voters for what his administration does, whether he accepts responsibility or not. But in a way Bush had set himself up for such questioning.

"My job will be to usher in the responsibility era, a culture that will stand in stark contrast to the last few decades, which has clearly said to America: 'If it feels good, do it, and if you've got a problem blame somebody else,' " Bush often said on the campaign trail in 2000.

But once in office, "like most presidents, Bush blames everybody but himself for bad news," Congressional Quarterly's Craig Crawford wrote last week.

The day after putting responsibility on the CIA, Bush said that he had confidence in the agency and that he considered the matter over. But reporters did not consider it over. On July 14, Bush got two more questions on the subject.

The inevitable question came again in Bush's July 17 press conference with Britain's Tony Blair. This time, Bush took responsibility four times -- though not for the words.

"I take responsibility for putting our troops into action," he began. "I take responsibility for making the decision, the tough decision, to put together a coalition to remove Saddam Hussein. . . . I take responsibility for dealing with that threat. . . . And, yeah, I take responsibility for making the decisions I made."

But what about the 16 words? Five days later, in a briefing on the controversy, White House communications director Dan Bartlett was asked if Bush accepted responsibility for citing the discredited intelligence. "He is responsible for the decision of going to war," Bartlett said. CBS's John Roberts was not satisfied. "So does he not ultimately bear responsibility for these 16 words going in the speech?"

"Well, John, as I said, the president bears responsibility for the decisions he makes," Bartlett replied. That still didn't do it for Roberts, who said, "But on this particular issue, I mean, does he not say, 'I'm in charge of the White House, it's ultimately my responsibility?' "

Bartlett didn't budge. "Well, and in this case, he is accepting the explanation of his staff."

Roberts persevered. "Okay, so he's not going to take responsibility for the White House that he oversees?"

"John, he takes full responsibility for the decisions that he has made."

At a dead end, reporters tried deductive reasoning. If the president takes responsibility for the case for going to war, and the faulty allegation was part of this case, then the president does, in fact, take responsibility for the infamous 16 words? "He is responsible for the decisions he makes," Bartlett repeated.

The White House reacted with indignation when ABC News broadcast a report from Iraq with soldiers complaining about their mission. Conservative Internet gossip Matt Drudge said that a White House operative told him the ABC report's author was a gay Canadian, an apparent effort, denied by the White House, to discredit the report. Drudge said the ABC report had become "talk radio fodder" for liberal media bias.

But the very same day of the ABC broadcast, a similar report went largely unnoticed. The source: The July 15 European edition of Stars and Stripes, the military newspaper. The paper quoted Sgt. Robert Page in Germany saying it was "too late" for Bush to promise not to overextend the military. "Right now we're only 50 percent staffed where I work because of all the deployments." Air Force Staff Sgt. Tom Yingling borrowed a phrase from Vice President Cheney, saying, "We are already overstretched -- big time."

"I think all foreigners should stop interfering in the internal affairs of Iraq." -- Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz, July 21.