White House backs Rumsfeld, denies charges on Iraq

WASHINGTON, Oct 1 (Reuters) US President George W Bush retains ''full confidence'' in Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, despite accusations that he botched the Iraq war and a disclosure that a former top Bush aide had recommended his replacement, the White House today said.

White House counselor Dan Bartlett also said Condoleezza Rice, who served as Bush's national security adviser before becoming secretary of state, had urged a complete change of Bush's national security team after his 2004 re-election.

This was in addition to efforts by White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card to replace Rumsfeld, reported in a new book by Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward on Bush's handling of the war.

''The president has full confidence in Secretary Rumsfeld,'' Bartlett told ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos. Rumsfeld was doing an ''enormously difficult job,'' he added.

Bartlett also denied Bush was misleading the America public about the level of violence against US troops in Iraq, a central charge in a Woodward's book ''State of Denial.'' Rumsfeld, who critics say failed to adequately plan for the war or provide enough troops, remains the right person to lead it, Bartlett said. ''We recognize that he has his critics, we recognize that he's made some very difficult decisions. Some people don't like his bedside manner,'' Bartlett said.

''What President Bush looks to in Secretary Rumsfeld is to bring him the type of information he needs to make the right decisions in this war,'' Bartlett said.

Disputing Woodward assertion that Card tried to fire Rumsfeld, Bartlett said Card merely presented options to Bush on changing his cabinet. Speaking on CNN's Late Edition, he also said Rice ''suggested to the president maybe he ought to bring in a whole new national security team starting the second term.'' ''The president decided that's not the approach he wanted to take,'' Bartlett said.

Although Rumsfeld has kept his job, Secretary of State Colin Powell, considered a voice of caution on the war, was replaced by Bush for the second term.

SECRET ASSESSMENT Woodward also wrote that while Bush spoke publicly of progress in Iraq, a secret intelligence assessment in May 2006 showed that insurgents in Iraq were on the rise.

Bartlett said has been clear with the American public about the violence in Iraq and that the book fails to note examples.

''What we see is a process that shows us adapting to the enemy,'' Bartlett said. ''And the enemy is very good. They have been, to our extent, more vicious and more violent than we probably originally expected,'' he added.

Bartlett said Bush declined to cooperate with Woodward, who gained fame by helping to break open the Watergate scandal that toppled President Richard Nixon.

Unlike his previous books, which Bush cooperated with, the White House felt that Woodward used a negative approach this time, Bartlett said. Critics have said the previous books were insufficiently skeptical of the president.

Administration officials believed that despite spending hours with Woodward ''their points weren't getting across,'' he said.

REUTERS SY KP2133