Bush sets case as 'war president'

Mr Bush said he was a "war president" and the top issue for voters should be the use of American power in the world.

He said he had not called Saddam Hussein an "imminent threat" but said it would have been too late if the US had waited until the danger was that close.

"I'm a war president. I make decisions here in the Oval Office in foreign policy matters with war on my mind," he said.

Challenged by interviewer, Tim Russert, that no weapon had been found, Mr Bush replied: "What wasn't wrong was the fact that he had the ability to make a weapon."

On his own military service, Mr Bush criticised the senior Democrats who have suggested that he did not show up for duty in the Alabama National Guard in 1972 where he served during the Vietnam era.