George Bush, Saddam was 'danger to the world'
Hans Blix 'War did not meet UN criteria'
The US President, George W Bush, has defended his decision to go to war in Iraq, following yesterday's interim report from a US inspection team looking for weapons of mass destruction.
Mr Bush said Dr David Kay's report, which admitted that the team had not found any such weapons, proved that Saddam Hussein was a 'danger to the world'.
The US President added that he was not worried about a new poll which said 53% of Americans doubted whether the Iraq war was worth the cost.
Earlier, the UN's former chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix, said the US and Britain have failed to prove that Iraq posed a manifest and imminent threat that justified war.
Mr Blix said the reasons given for the war had not met the UN criteria for action.
Britain's Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, has denied that the interim report undermined the case for military action. Mr Straw insisted weapons of mass destruction may still be found in Iraq, and said Dr Kay had only been able to inspect ten supply positions out of 130.
Senior politicians in the US Democrat Party have said the report on Iraq showed the Bush administration fought a war that did not need to be fought.
However, the US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, said the inspectors still had work to do.
US draft resolution on Iraq unsatisfactory says France
Meanwhile, the French government has said it is not satisfied with the new US draft resolution on Iraq, which is to be presented to the UN Security Council to try to persuade other countries to contribute money and troops for peacekeeping.
The resolution promises moves to transfer power to the Iraqis, but it does not set out a timetable.
France, which opposed the war in Iraq, described the resolution as limited. France believes a provisional Iraqi government should be established as soon as possible.
See a summary of the interim ISG report on Iraqi WMD here
