US President Mr George W. Bush said last night attacks in Indonesia and Kuwait form part of a grim pattern of terror and there is still "a long way to go" to defeat Osama bin Laden's network.
But he said the United States can fight Iraq and al-Qaeda simultaneously.
"We will fight, if need be, the war on terror on two fronts," Mr Bush said three days after Congress gave him authority to use force against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. "Iraq is part of the war on terror," he said.
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Mr Bush said he was worried about potential strikes on US soil and drew links between the explosion on a French oil tanker in Yemen, shootings of US Marines in Kuwait and the bombing at a nightclub in Bali.
Although he stopped short of tying al-Qaeda to all three events, Mr Bush said: "It does look like a pattern of attacks that the enemy, albeit on the run, is trying to once again frighten and kill freedom-loving people".
He had strong words for Indonesian President Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri, suggesting his patience had grown thin waiting for the Muslim-majority nation to crack down on terrorists.
"I hope I hear the resolve of a leader that recognises that any time terrorists take hold in a country, it is going to weaken the country itself".
Mr Bush asked again for an anti-Iraq resolution at the UN that spells out consequences for Saddam if he does not disarm.
AP