Bush says getting rid of Saddam would help build democracy

WASHINGTON - A day after declaring that removing Saddam Hussein from power would pave the way toward Middle East peace, President Bush defended his father for stopping short of ousting the Iraqi leader in the 1991 Persian Gulf War.\n"That was not the mission in 1991," the president said. "The mission ... was to liberate Kuwait."\nBush addressed the issue in the Oval Office while sitting alongside Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, who thanked Americans for their support in rebuilding his nation. "I'm also here to ask you to do more for us," Karzai told Bush.\nThe president called Karzai a "courageous leader."\nA day earlier, Bush argued in a nationally televised address that removing Saddam from Iraq would help bring peace to the Middle East and inspire the Arab world to embrace democracy. His father, then-President George Bush, led U.S. forces against Saddam Hussein 12 years ago.\nBush declined to say Thursday whether he thought removing Saddam in the 1990s would have brought peace to the Middle East under his father's administration.\n"The mission in the early 1990s was to liberate Kuwait and the United States achieved that mission," Bush said. "The mission now is to disarm Saddam Hussein in the name of peace. And we will disarm Saddam Hussein."\nBush has largely been silent on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in recent months as he tried to focus the world's attention on Iraq. Yet Wednesday night, in a speech to conservative activists, he tied the issues together, emphasizing in a new way a broader rationale to his case for war to disarm Saddam's regime.\nChanging the leadership in Baghdad could "begin a new stage for Middle Eastern peace and set in motion progress toward a truly democratic Palestinian state," Bush said.\n"The passing of Saddam Hussein's regime will deprive terrorist networks of a wealthy patron that pays for terrorist training and offers rewards to families of suicide bombers," he said. "And other regimes will be given a clear warning that support for terror will not be tolerated."\nLooking to spread that message, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice was scheduled to meet Thursday afternoon with Nobel Peace laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. For his part, Bush spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin about Iraq and North Korea. Aides could not say whether Putin assured Bush he would not veto a new U.S.-led resolution declaring Iraq has not disarmed.\nWhite House spokesman Ari Fleischer predicted Iraq will announce by Saturday's deadline that it will destroy the disputed missiles, but he dismissed such promises as a ploy. "This is easily predictable. It's a part of the game-playing." He compared it to chipping off a piece of the "tip of the iceberg."\nThere is little tradition of democracy in the Arab world, but Bush said an American-led invasion could change that.\n"After defeating enemies, we did not leave behind occupying armies, we left constitutions and parliaments," Bush said. "There was a time when many said that the cultures of Japan and Germany were incapable of sustaining democratic values. Well, they were wrong. Some say the same of Iraq today. They are mistaken."\nThe chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Thursday that if war becomes necessary, U.S. troops are ready to go to battle.\nGen. Richard Myers also said on NBC's "Today" program that he believes the Iraqi military is not as strong as it was in the Gulf War.\n"The morale is relatively low," he said. "We know from Desert Storm days ... in terms of their training and equipment, they're not nearly at the level they were in 1991." But Myers cautioned that "nobody is anticipating that this is going to be an easy fight if we're asked to do this."\nIn Karzai's visit, Bush received a reminder of the costs and rewards of forcing out a government. The Afghanistan leader on Wednesday appealed for the United States to keep rebuilding his country as a main priority, even if it goes to war with Iraq.\n"Don't forget us if Iraq happens," Karzai said.\n"We know the Iraqi people very well. They are Muslim, we are Muslim," Karzai said. "We would wish for them what we wish for ourselves. To be free, to be liberated, to have access to a better life." Fleischer said Bush planned to assure Karzai of America's continued commitment to rebuilding.\nSenior administration officials briefed reporters on their vision of a postwar Iraq: The U.S. military would control Iraq in the short term after Saddam's removal; troops would maintain security, protect Iraq's oil fields, ensure that other nations respect Iraq's existing borders and find and destroy weapons of mass destruction.\nA civilian administrator eventually would take over the work of engaging Iraqis in the formation of a democratic government. The transition would last months, not weeks, the official said, adding that a more precise estimate won't be possible until it is clear how Iraq weathered an attack.