In London, Britain stood by its claim that Iraq had tried to buy uranium from Africa to kickstart its nuclear weapons program.
Prime Minister Tony Blair's spokesman said Britain had its own intelligence, apart from documents used by the US, which turned out to be based on forged information.
"We had included the material in our dossier on the basis of our knowledge, which was different," the spokesman said.
He was referring to a British government dossier published in September which laid out the threat posed by Saddam and said Iraq had sought to buy significant amounts of uranium from Africa.
Bush, in his address, had said: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."
Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer conceded the information "should not have risen to the level of a presidential speech," but argued that the fundamental case for invading Iraq remained sound despite one error in intelligence.
"There is a bigger picture here that is just as valid today as it was the day of the speech," he said, citing Iraq's alleged chemical and biological weapons programs.
US-led forces in Iraq have yet to unearth conclusive evidence of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, or close ties between Saddam and the al-Qaeda Islamist militant group, two major justifications used by the Bush administration for the war.
The White House's backpedalling followed the publication of a British parliamentary commission report that raised serious questions about the reliability of British intelligence cited by Bush.
A former US ambassador who investigated the Niger allegation for the Central Intelligence Agency said he believed the Bush administration had manipulated data on Iraq to suit its case for war.
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