John McCain: Wrong to Attack Bush
Sunday, Nov. 13, 2005 9:18 p.m. EST

Sen. John McCain said Sunday that Iraq war critics who insist on claiming that President Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction are themselves liars.

"I think it's a very legitimate aspect of American life to criticize and to disagree and to debate," McCain told CBS's "Face the Nation." "But I want to say I think it's a lie to say that the president lied to the American people."

The Arizona Republican recalled his role on the Robb-Silverman Commission, which investigated allegations that WMD intelligence had been manipulated.

"I saw many, many analysts that came before that committee," McCain said. "I asked every one of them: 'Were you ever pressured politically or any other way to change your analysis of the situation as you saw?'

"Every one of them said no," he recalled.

McCain noted that "every intelligence agency in the world, including the Russian, including the French, including the Israeli[s], all had reached the same conclusion, and that was that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction."

"The more facts that come out, the better off we are," he added. "But I would not accept the premise the president lied."