Rice denies charges US misled public on Iraq war

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2008

STOCKHOLM (AFP) — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sought here Thursday to rally international support for Iraq while denying new charges the Bush administration misled the public into invading the country.

The allegations, contained in a harsh new book by President George W. Bush's former chief spokesman, surfaced in Washington as Rice attended a conference in Stockholm, one that critics said would lend legitimacy to the invasion.

Despite refusing directly to "comment on a book that I haven't read," Rice told reporters that Bush was "very clear about the reasons for going to war," linking it to Saddam Hussein's flouting UN disarmament resolutions.

And even if it turned out that Saddam did not have weapons of mass destruction, she said the United...