Bush and the Torture Tapes

'Could Have Been More Precise'

It's about as close as the White House ever gets to admitting that President Bush really blew it. But it isn't really an answer.

Yesterday, with White House reporters clamoring for an explanation of Bush's misleading statement on Tuesday about when he learned that Iran had halted its nuclear weapons program, Press Secretary Dana Perino said that the president "could have been more precise" in his language. (In fact, she said it precisely three different times.)

Jennifer Loven writes for the Associated Press: "The White House sought Thursday to clarify remarks on the new intelligence report on Iran by President Bush that have been called into question.

"At a news conference on Tuesday, Bush said he was told in August by Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell that 'we have some new information' that would delay a new assessment of Iran's nuclear activities by the U.S. intelligence community.

"'He didn't tell me what the information was; he did tell me it was going to take a while to analyze,' Bush said then. The president added that 'nobody ever told me' that he should back down on heated rhetoric about Iran as a result of the potential new findings.

"However, White House press secretary Dana Perino said in a statement Wednesday night and in more detail at her daily briefing with reporters on Thursday that McConnell did tell Bush in August that Iran may have halted its nuclear weapons program and that, if confirmed, it could result in a new Iran view from the intelligence community.

"The only thing Bush didn't get then, she explained, were 'the raw detail in terms of the sources and methods' and what sort of checking was going to be done.

"'I can see where you could see that the president could have been more precise in that language,' she said. 'But the president was being truthful.'

"At the same time, she offered no apologies for the provocative remarks on Iran from Bush, as well as Vice President Dick Cheney, that continued even after that August notification from McConnell."

Loven also points out that Perino actually had to correct herself about something after the briefing: "During her daily briefing with reporters, Perino initially said that 'what we know right now, for sure, is that Iran is enriching uranium, which is fissile material, to get a bomb.'

"Later, she said that what she meant was that Iran is enriching uranium 'which can lead to fissile material to get a bomb.'"

Here is an excerpt from the transcript of yesterday's appropriately contentious press briefing: