Dec. 14 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush accepted responsibility for taking the U.S. to war in Iraq based on faulty intelligence while saying the invasion still was justified by the threat posed by Saddam Hussein and international terrorism.

``It is true that much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong,'' Bush said today in the final speech in a series intended to outline his Iraq strategy. ``Given Saddam's history and the lessons of September the 11th, my decision to remove Saddam Hussein was the right decision.''

Bush spoke a day before Iraqis go to the polls to elect a new parliament, a step that the administration is counting on to help stabilize the country enough that the U.S. can begin bringing some of its 160,000 troops home.

Tying together his arguments from three previous speeches over the past two weeks on why the U.S. must stay engaged in Iraq, Bush said that even though the original rationale for the war turned out to be false -- that Hussein was compiling biological and chemical weapons -- the invasion was critical to the safety of the U.S.

The government is addressing the mistakes that led intelligence agencies to the wrong conclusions just as the U.S. is adjusting its tactics in Iraq to fix past missteps, he said.

``I am responsible for the decision to go into Iraq,'' the president said at the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington. ``I'm also responsible for fixing what went wrong by reforming our intelligence capabilities, and we're doing just that.''

`Admission of Errors'

Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, said he applauded Bush's remarks, ``not only the description of the situation in Iraq but the admission of errors that have been made.''

In four addresses since Nov. 30, the president responded to prompting from Democrats and senior Republican lawmakers such as Senators Richard Lugar and John Warner that the administration give the public clear benchmarks for progress in Iraq and make regular reports to lawmakers on meeting those goals.

One of the milestones will be reached tomorrow as millions of Iraqis will go to polling stations nationwide to cast ballots for more than 7,000 candidates from 300 parties vying for 275 seats in the new Iraqi parliament.

That vote is ``crucial'' for Iraq and for the battle against terrorists who are making a stand there, Bush said.

Spreading Democracy

The election means Iraq ``will be the only constitutional democracy in the Arab world,'' Bush told about 500 invited guests of the Woodrow Wilson Center, a non-partisan organization of foreign policy professionals and scholars. ``Yet we need to remember that these elections are also a vital part of a broader strategy for protecting the American people against the threat of terrorism.''

Successful elections in Iraq also will help spread democracy throughout the region, Bush said.

``Freedom in Iraq will inspire many reforms from Damascus to Tehran,'' Bush said. When Iraq can govern, sustain and defend itself, ``we will gain an ally in the war on terror and a partner for peace in the Middle East.''

He warned that electing a parliament won't end violence in Iraq, and setting a deadline to pull U.S. troops from the country ``would be a recipe for disaster.''

``We will fight this war without wavering and we will prevail,'' Bush said. ``We cannot and will not leave Iraq until victory is achieved.''

`Patience'

Bush cautioned that it's going to take time for Iraq to form a government. ``The work ahead will require patience of the Iraqi people, and require our patience, as well,'' Bush said.

Lugar, the Indiana Republican who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said after a White House briefing with Bush and national security advisers yesterday that it may be several months before a government is formed.

Administration aides ``cautioned that given the multiplicity of parties and interests, solidifying a parliamentary government will not be instantaneous,'' Lugar said in a statement. ``They indicated that under some scenarios, the selection of ministers might not be finalized until April.''

Before his speech, Bush met with more than a dozen House Democrats. U.S. Representative Steve Israel of New York said afterward that the president was trying ``to dampen expectations.''

``The elections may not change the security overnight,'' Israel, a member of the House Armed Service Committee said.

`Dose of Reality'

He called the briefing a ``dose of reality'' that was ``just refreshing.''

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said after meeting with senators for an hour on Iraq at the Capitol that the administration would continue to consult with Congress.

``The administration wants very much to continue to have these discussions,'' she said. ``The American people I think expect us in the administration, the executive branch, to work closely with the legislative branch and with both sides of the aisle to bring victory to Iraq.''

Bush ``is not done with all the meetings and he's not done with all the speeches,'' said Senator Pat Roberts, a Kansas Republican and chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. ``For too long the administration did not do that.''

Polls show U.S. public support for the war is declining, and Bush is facing questions from members of Congress about his plans and the costs of the conflict.

In a Dec. 7-11 poll by the Pew Center for the Public and the Press, 58 percent of U.S. adults said they disapproved of the way Bush was handling the situation in Iraq, compared with 71 percent who approved just after the start of the conflict in March 2003. Forty-nine percent said the U.S. is losing ground in preventing a civil war there. Still, 61 percent said progress is being made in training Iraqi forces.

Some Democrats said Bush has fallen short of his goal of building support.

``The president is 0-3 in his last three speeches,'' Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said at a news conference just before Bush spoke. ``In order to support the mission, the American people need to know the remaining military and political benchmarks.''

To contact the reporter on this story: William Roberts in Washington at wroberts@bloomberg.net; Roger Runningen in Washington at rrunningen@bloomberg.net;

Last Updated: December 14, 2005 17:04 EST