卡尔·罗夫承认布什在伊拉克问题上决策失误

The failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq damaged President George W Bush's reputation, his former strategist Karl Rove says.

美国前总统布什的首席政治顾问卡尔·罗夫称，美军未在伊拉克发现大规模杀伤性武器，这损害了布什的声誉。

Karl Rove admits mistakes made during the Bush years

In his memoir¹（自传，回忆录） , Mr Rove writes that he felt he should have done more to reject claims that President Bush lied about the existence of Saddam's weapons.

He called his perceived（感知到的，感观的） failure one of the worst mistakes he made.

But he described the achievements of the Bush administration as "impressive, durable²（耐用的，持久的） and significant".

In his book Courage and Consequence, Mr Rove defended President Bush, saying that history would look favourably³ on the president's two terms.

He said the president did not knowingly mislead the American public about the existence of WMDs, and described the 2003 invasion as a justifiable⁴ response to the terror attacks of 9/11.

Al-Qaeda and Osama Bin⁵ Laden⁶ were behind those attacks, but the Bush administration linked Saddam Hussein to them to build support for an invasion.

"Having seen how much carnage（残杀，大屠杀） four airplanes could cause, Bush was determined⁷ to do all he could to prevent the most powerful weapons from falling into the hands of the world's most dangerous dictators（独裁者） ," Mr Rove wrote in his book, which is due out next week.

Katrina comment

He also defended the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina which devastated⁸（毁坏，摧毁） New Orleans and other areas in 2005.

President Bush was criticised for his praise of Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator⁹ Michael Brown when he said "Heck of a job, Brownie" amid scenes of chaos¹⁰.

The comment was not borne out of ignorance and incompetence¹¹ as critics claimed, but was a statement of encouragement for an official under pressure, Mr Rove said.

Mr Rove was at the heart of some of the biggest decisions made by the Bush administration - and some of the biggest controversies¹²（争议，辩论） .

Mr Rove was the chief strategist in President Bush's two presidential election victories, a role that made him highly regarded by Republicans and reviled¹³（辱骂，斥责） by Democrats¹⁴.

Early in President Bush's second term, Mr Rove was promoted to deputy chief of staff in charge of most White House policy co-ordination, including matters ranging from homeland security and domestic policy to the economy and national security.