Stockholm: United States President George W Bush was not alone in believing Saddam Hussain had weapons of mass destruction, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday ahead of an international conference on Iraq.

Rice defended the Bush administration's handling of the situation in Iraq after a new book by a former White House spokesman sharply criticised the war.

Speaking at a news conference, Rice said: “The one thing that I am certain was not a mistake was to liberate the Iraqi people from Saddam Hussein."

She added that removing Saddam was "the right thing to do".

In his book, former White House spokesman Scott McClellan claims President George W Bush used propaganda to convince the international community to support the war.


Rice, who refused to comment on the book as she has not read it, said: "It was not the United States of America alone that believed that he had weapons of mass destruction that he was hiding."

She added that the record of the weapons appeared to be clear at the time.