Q Dana, maybe -- it's been a couple of hours since the Senate report came out, so I just wanted to give you a chance on camera to talk a little bit about Senate Democrats -- I know Republicans are disagreeing on the Hill -- but Senate Democrats are alleging that it's not that intelligence was wrong, but that the administration maybe exaggerated some intelligence and maybe left out some key caveats about that intelligence in the run-up to the war. And I wonder, for your reaction, especially since Scott McClellan -- it's not just Democrats, but Scott McClellan made a similar claim in his book.

MS. PERINO: Well, one, I would say that the issue of pre-war intelligence on Iraq has been thoroughly reviewed over the years by the Congress, as well as the independent WMD Commission. The majority report today is a selective view. And as you just said, the minority, the Republicans, have their own report, and I would encourage everyone to look at that as well. Senator Bond has a press conference that is probably underway as I speak. And so make sure you take a look at that.

The administration's statements on Iraq were based on the very same intelligence that was given to the Congress, and they came to the same conclusions, as did other countries around the world. The issue about Iraq's WMD ultimately turned out to be false, and we have fully admitted that. We regret it. And we have also taken steps to make sure that we can correct it for -- in the future.

So for example, one of the things that the WMD Commission recommended was the creation of a -- we'll call it the Director of National Intelligence. They wanted somebody to oversee and coordinate amongst the intelligence agencies. Congress supported it, the President supported it, and we were able to stand that up. And it is now -- first run by General Hayden, who now runs the CIA, but now run by General Mike McConnell, who was able to improve the process of how we gather intel and how that intel is presented to the President.

For example, they have improved the way that they talk about the confidence level in both the judgments that they are making and the sources that they are talking to. Policymakers, because of this improved process, get an improved product, a more fulsome product, and we have a better service that's good for the President, that's good for the America people. And I would just remind you, President Bush and other administration officials repeated declarations -- and it says this in the report -- repeated declarations that were substantiated by the intelligence community that turned out to be wrong. That does not mean that anybody purposefully lied.

seen at 09:00, 5 June in Whitehouse Press Briefings. Email this to a friend.
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