Bush makes election-year State of the Union address

4.00pm - UPDATE


WASHINGTON - President Bush made a defiant defence of the Iraq war on Tuesday and urged Americans to stick with his leadership in an election-year State of the Union address that offered a point-by-point rebuttal of his Democratic challengers.

"We have not come all this way -- through tragedy, and trial, and war -- only to falter and leave our work unfinished," Bush said in the chamber of the House of Representatives before a joint session of Congress and millions watching on television.

Seeking to capture the momentum going into a hotly contested presidential contest, Bush set out an election year, stay-the-course agenda sprinkled with domestic proposals to make his tax cuts permanent, reduce health care costs for small businesses and bolster education.

He said Americans "face a choice" -- making clear that he meant between his leadership and that of the Democrats who would replace him.

"We can go forward with confidence and resolve -- or we can turn back to the dangerous illusion that terrorists are not plotting and outlaw regimes are no threat to us," he said. "We can press on with economic growth, and reforms in education and Medicare -- or we can turn back to the old policies and old divisions."

Some of his most impassioned language was in defending the Iraq war against Democrats who say he invaded without UN support based on faulty intelligence about weapons of mass destruction, which have never been found.

Bush said chief weapons hunter David Kay, while finding no actual weapons, had identified dozens of weapons of mass destruction programs.

"Had we failed to act, the dictator's weapons of mass destruction programs would continue to this day," Bush said.

COUNTS ALLIES IN IRAQ

To critics that the United States went to war without UN support, Bush said 34 countries were allies and that from the beginning he sought international support for operations in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

"There is a difference, however, between leading a coalition of many nations, and submitting to the objections of a few. America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our people," he said.

Bush has been put on the defensive on Iraq because of a failure to find weapons of mass destruction. He used last year's address to make the case against Iraq, citing various charges that Iraq possessed chemical and biological weapons and was trying to build a nuclear weapon.

"The work of building a new Iraq is hard, and it is right," Bush said this year. "And America has always been willing to do what it takes for what is right."

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California responded in a statement that Bush has pursued a "go-it-alone foreign policy that leaves us isolated abroad."

"American taxpayers are bearing almost all the cost -- a colossal $120 billion and rising. More importantly, American troops are enduring almost all the casualties," she said.

Bush spoke a day after the Iowa Democratic caucuses that saw Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry charge to the head of a crowded field. Republican strategists said Kerry could offer Bush a tougher fight for re-election than Iowa's third-place finisher, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.

A new poll by Zogby International said Bush looked vulnerable. It gave him a 49 per cent job approval rating, dropping from 53 per cent in mid-December.

HIGH MARKS ON SECURITY

On an issue Americans give him high marks on, Bush said the United States must continue the war on terrorism.

"Twenty-eight months have passed since Sept. 11, 2001 -- over two years without an attack on American soil -- and it is tempting to believe that the danger is behind us. That hope is understandable, comforting -- and false," he said.

He cited Libya's decision to give up weapons of mass destruction and -- without making threatening noises -- he said the United States was trying to persuade North Korea and Iran to give up nuclear programs.

Bush proposed job training grants and tax credits for those with little or no health insurance.

But given a budget deficit expected to hit $500 billion this year, he offered no major spending initiatives. He urged Congress to hold discretionary spending this year to 4 per cent.

But he held fast to the tax cuts that are a centerpiece of his economic agenda, saying they are helping boost the US economy. Democrats blame the tax cuts in part for the skyrocketing record deficit and say the economy is in a jobless recovery.

"Inflation is low, interest rates are low, exports are growing, productivity is high, and jobs are on the rise," Bush said. "These numbers confirm that the American people are using their money far better than government would have."

Stepping into a controversial issue, Bush said he considered marriage to be the union of a man and a woman but stop short of endorsing a ban on gay marriage.

"If judges insist on forcing their arbitrary will upon the people, the only alternative left to the people would be the constitutional process. Our nation must defend the sanctity of marriage," he said.