US President George W. Bush awarded on Tuesday the highest civilian honor in the United Statesto three former aides for their "pivotal roles" in carrying out his Iraq policy.

Bush, in a ceremony at the White House, presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom to retired general Tommy Franks, former CIA director George Tenet and former Iraq administrator L. Paul Bremer.

"This honor goes to three men who have played pivotal roles in great events and whose efforts have made our country more secure and advanced the cause of human liberty," Bush said.

Franks, a retired four-star Army general, had commanded US forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. He got the award although he had been criticized for not asking for more US troops in invading Iraq,thus failing to curb the chaos after Baghdad fell.

Tenet, who resigned in July after seven years as CIA chief, hasbeen criticized for intelligence failures before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and the intelligence before the Iraq war alleging theexistence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. No such weapons have been found.

Bremer oversaw the transfer of power to an interim Iraqi government in June. But he has stirred a controversy after leavingIraq by suggesting that the United States had never sent enough troops to Iraq.

He has also been criticized for disbanding the former Iraqi army and abolishing Iraq's defense ministry, putting a heavy burden on US troops to train Iraq forces.

Source: Xinhua