Bush Upset With 'Flawed Intelligence'

WASHINGTON — President Bush said yesterday he was disappointed in "flawed intelligence" before the Iraq war and was concerned that if a Democrat wins the presidency in November and withdrew troops prematurely it could "eventually lead to another attack on the United States."

In an interview with Politico magazine and the Internet portal Yahoo, Mr. Bush said he gave up golf in 2003 out of respect for U.S. soldiers killed in the war, which has lasted more than five years. A question submitted from the online audience asked him if he felt he had been misled about Iraq as he made the decision to go to war.

"'Misled' is a strong word," he said. "Not only our intelligence community, but intelligence communities all across the world shared the same assessment. And so I was disappointed to see how flawed our intelligence was."