US President George W Bush has made a defiant defence of the Iraq war 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," President President Bush said before a joint session of Congress and millions watching on television.
Seeking to capture the momentum going into a hotly contested presidential contest, President Bush declared that the state of the union "confident and strong" and set out an election-year agenda sprinkled with modest domestic proposals and warnings that the memory of September 11th, 2001, requires a tough approach to terrorism.
Responding to some voters' concerns that he has mishandled the domestic agenda, he proposed making his tax cuts permanent and called for giving small businesses the right to band together and negotiate lower health insurance rates. He proposed job training grants for unemployed workers.
At a time when Democrats battling for their party's presidential nomination are lobbing attacks against him, President Bush said Americans "face a choice" and can either go forward with him or turn back.
"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 in his 54-minute speech.
"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," he said.
President Bush 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.
This year, President Bush said chief weapons hunter Mr David Kay, while finding no actual weapons, had identified dozens of weapons of mass destruction programmes. He did not mention that Mr Kay has been considering leaving his job.
"Had we failed to act, the dictator's weapons of mass destruction programmes would continue to this day," President Bush said. As he spoke, Senator Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, could be seen shaking his head in disagreement.
To critics that the United States went to war without UN support, President Bush said 34 countries were allies and there is a difference between leading a coalition and "submitting to the objections of a few," meaning opponents like France and Germany.
"America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our country," he said.
President Bush called for a renewal of the Patriot Act that increased law enforcement powers in response to the September 11th, 2001, attacks.
Several Democrats drew a flinty stare from the president by applauding when he said the act is set to expire next year. Many Democrats feel the act encroaches on civil rights.
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California responded in a statement that President 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.
President Bush made no apologies for his touch approach to the war on terrorism, dismissing what he said were those who question whether America is really in a war and view terrorism more as a crime.
"After the chaos and carnage of September 11th, it is not enough to serve our enemies with legal papers," he said.
President Bush suggested the Iraq war was a factor in Libya's decision to give up weapons of mass destruction instead of long-standing economic sanctions.
Without making threatening noises, he said the United States was trying to persuade North Korea and Iran to give up nuclear programmes.
To help some of the 2.3 million Americans without a job under his watch, President Bush proposed a $250 million programme of job training grants, an initiative he is to promote in stops on Wednesday in Ohio and Arizona.