Washington: In surprise comments, US President George W Bush has for the first time conceded that the intelligence on possession of weapons of mass destruction by Saddam Hussein was "wrong" but justified military action against Iraq, saying the dictator retained the "means and the intent" to produce the arsenal.

"Much of the accumulated body of our intelligence was wrong and we must find out why," Bush said in a prepared statement yesterday (Oct 7, 2004) before leaving for a campaign swing for the Presidential election.

His remarks came hours after Chief US weapons inspector in Iraq Charles Duelfer presented his report which found that Saddam had destroyed most of his chemical and biological weapons after the 1991 war defeat.

"Based on all the information we have to date, I believe we were right to take action, and America is safe today with Saddam Hussein in prison," Bush said.

He claimed Saddam retained the knowledge, the materials, the means, and the intent to produce weapons of mass destruction. And he could have passed that knowledge on to our terrorist enemies.

"Saddam Hussein was a unique threat, a sworn enemy of our country, a state sponsor of terror, operating in the world's most volatile region. In a world after September the 11th, he was a threat we had to confront. And America and the world are safer for our actions," Bush said.

Duelfer, like other inspectors before him, also found no evidence of cooperation between Saddam and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda's network.