US President George W. Bush expressed confidence Wednesday his government could thwart a feared new wave of al-Qaeda attacks, and said he took "personal responsibility" for using discredited data on Iraq's nuclear aspirations.
In his first solo news conference since March, Bush also defended his management of the slumbering US economy and solicited foreign help in heading off nuclear crises in North Korea and Iran.
Bush appeared in the sunny White House Rose Garden days before heading off for a month at his Texas ranch, facing slipping opinion poll ratings and the smouldering controversy over Iraq's alleged weapons programs.
"I take personal responsibility for everything I say, of course. Absolutely," Bush said, when asked, after weeks of evading blame, whether he accepted responsibility for a since discredited claim that Iraq sought uranium for nuclear weapons in Africa.
But Bush, who has been criticized for holding too few formal news conferences, then quickly changed the subject, addressing the question of whether it was right to oust Saddam Hussein.
"I analyzed a thorough body of intelligence -- good, solid, sound intelligence -- that led me to come to the conclusion that it was necessary to remove Saddam Hussein from power," Bush said.
He also warned that the United States remained a key target for al-Qaeda, but said he was confident authorities could ward off a feared new wave of attacks.
"There are still al-Qaeda remants that have designs on America," Bush said.
"But I'm confident we will thwart the attempts."
The Department of Homeland Security warned Tuesday that al-Qaeda may be planning more hijackings of airliners, patented on the Sept. 11 attacks.
Bush claimed credit for lifting a "blanket of fear" in Iraq, but admitted: "I don't know how close we are to getting Saddam Hussein. Closer than we were yesterday, I guess. All I know is, we're on the hunt."
Bush also pressed home his drive for peace in the Middle East, days after meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian prime minister Mahmud Abbas.
The goal of a Palestinian state by 2005 enshrined in the road map for Middle East peace was still "realistic" he said, and claimed "pretty good progress in a short period of time," since diving into Middle East peacemaking earlier this year.
Hours after North Korea renewed its call for one-on-one talks with the US, Bush revealed he had just spoken by telephone with China's President Hu Jintao (
"I told President Hu that it is very important for us to get Japan and South Korea and Russia involved, as well," said Bush, who has told Pyongyang that his government will only accept talks in a multilateral setting.
Bush also made a pitch for support from Europe in the US bid to frustrate the alleged nuclear aspirations of another member of his "axis of evil," Iran.
On another foreign policy crisis, he signalled that the time was not yet right for a long-awaited US mission to help a West African force restore peace to Liberia after Liberian President Charles Taylor leaves the country.
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