US President George W. Bush set out last night in his annual State of the Union address to convince the world of the White House case against Iraq, and to prepare Americans for possible war in the weeks ahead.
Faced with falling approval ratings and growing public scepticism of the need for war with Iraq, Mr Bush declared he would "rally the American people to some great causes and remind them that we will accomplish those causes together".
The US president did not include a deadline or a declaration of war against Iraq in the text of his 45-minute speech to both houses of the US Congress.
Instead he detailed the threat Iraq posed to US interests, and explained why his administration has sent 150,000 US troops to the Persian Gulf - while insisting that he had "a deep desire for peace not only here at home but in troubled regions throughout the world". "The qualities of courage and compassion that we strive for in America also determine our conduct abroad," Mr Bush said.
"The American flag stands for more than our power and our interests. Our founders dedicated this country to the cause of human dignity - the rights of every person and the possibilities of every life. This conviction leads us into the world to help the afflicted, and defend the peace, and confound the designs of evil men.
"Today, the gravest danger in the war on terror the gravest danger facing America and the world is outlaw regimes that seek and possess nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. These regimes could use such weapons for blackmail, terror and mass murder. They could also give or sell those weapons to their terrorist allies, who would use them without the least hesitation." In making the case against Iraq, the president used some recently declassified new intelligence to substantiate his claim that Baghdad is hiding weapons of mass destruction from UN inspectors, White House officials said.
Attempting to answer the question "why now?" in what is probably the most critical speech of his presidency so far, the president touched on new allegations connecting Iraq and Al-Qaeda, the terrorist group responsible for the September 11th attacks in the US.
Officials said, however, that the president would leave it to US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, to build the case that Iraq has ties to Osama bin Laden. "The information that we can divulge in greater detail, we will be divulging in the days ahead," Mr Powell said.
Several leading Democrats criticised the president's war plans yesterday in advance of the State of the Union address. Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin said that the US should not invade Iraq and the Bush administration had "shifted justifications [for war] over time", with the president linking Iraq to Al-Qaeda with little concrete evidence.
Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle challenged the White House to show "proof to the world" that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, and in a joint statement with House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi accused Mr Bush of creating a "credibility gap" on a series of issues.
Central to Mr Bush's argument was the assertion that the US could not wait until the threat from Iraq matured to the point where it was too late to contain President Saddam Hussein.
This view is increasingly challenged in polls. A Newsweek survey found that 59 per cent of Americans said the US should give UN weapons inspectors "several more months" to do their jobs in Iraq before military intervention.
Mr Bush also included in his speech a robust defence of his $670 billion economic recovery package, which faces strong resistance in Congress where his Republic Party enjoys only a narrow majority. Most of the text was devoted to the economy and his plans for providing greater access to health care for millions of American people.