Washington ? President Bush’s erroneous reference to an Iraqi-Africa uranium link was understandable, former President Clinton said Tuesday, in part because Saddam Hussein’s regime had not accounted for some weapons by the time Clinton ended his term in 2001.

Clinton’s comments on CNN’s “Larry King Live” reinforce one of the pillars of Bush’s defense of the war in Iraq — that his Democratic predecessor was never satisfied that Saddam had rid himself of weapons of mass destruction.

Clinton confined his remarks to biological and chemical weapons, and did not say whether he would consider credible any report that Saddam had wanted to build a nuclear weapons program.

Nonetheless, he suggested that Bush’s mistake was par for the course — and that it was time to move on now that Bush had acknowledged the error.