By Jon Frandsen and Carl Weiser
Gannett News Service

WASHINGTON - President Bush said Tuesday that the United States would demand action from the United Nations Security Council next Wednesday on Iraq's continued defiance on disarmament and "will lead a coalition to disarm him" - with or without U.N. support.

"The world has waited 12 years for Iraq to disarm. America will not accept a serious and mounting threat to our country, our friends and our allies," Bush said.

During his State of the Union address, Bush summoned the nation's founding fathers to bolster his fight against evil - a word he used at least four times.

"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."

Bush asked Congress to provide $6 billion for Project Bioshield, a plan to quickly make available vaccines and treatments against agents such as anthrax, botulinum toxin, Ebola and plague.

He reserved the first half of his speech for domestic priorities, chiefly, reviving the economy by speeding up tax cuts enacted in 2001. Doing so would save a family of four earning $40,000 annually an estimated $1,133 in taxes.

"Lower taxes and greater investment will help this economy expand. More jobs mean more taxpayers - and higher revenues to our government," he said.

He touched on a variety of other domestic topics - pushing hydrogen-powered cars, pledging an extra $400 billion for Medicare and urging Congress to crack down on lawsuits that drive up health costs.

But the hardest-hitting parts of his speech were reserved for foreign policy, and to calling on Americans to prepare for war.

"A future lived at the mercy of terrible threats is no peace at all," he said. That's why the United States must confront not just al-Qaida but Saddam Hussein. Bush described him as a man who runs a regime in which children are tortured while their parents watch; and political prisoners are burned with hot irons, mutilated with electric drills or have their tongues cut out.

"If this is not evil, then evil has no meaning," he said. "And tonight I have a message for the brave and oppressed people of Iraq: Your enemy is not surrounding your country - your enemy is ruling your country. And the day he and his regime are removed from power will be the day of your liberation."

With key countries warning that U.N. weapons inspectors should be given more time in Iraq before military action is taken, Bush continued to make the case that Saddam has shown no interest in complying with U.N. demands that he empty his arsenal of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

Bush, who is up for re-election in less than two years, was careful to address the pocketbook issues that tend to weigh heavy on the minds of voters.

Bush pushed Congress to tackle four priorities this year: his plan to bolster the economy with $670 billion in tax cuts, update Medicare and establish a prescription drug benefit for older Americans, decrease reliance on foreign oil, and create programs aimed at helping children whose parents are in jail or otherwise unable to provide "guidance and attention."

Bush also noted the growing number of people who do not have health insurance and the skyrocketing costs of health care that are forcing more people to drop coverage.

He said the country must reject "a nationalized health care system that dictates coverage and rations care. Instead, we must work toward a system in which all Americans have a good insurance policy ... choose their own doctors ... and seniors and low-income Americans receive the help they need."

Democrats accused Bush of using occasions like the State of the Union to make appealing promises that he rarely keeps.

"On point after point, the president has promised and he has failed to deliver. And with each failure, the credibility gap grows," said Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., pointing to education, the economy, the war on terrorism and efforts to shore up homeland defense.

Even though Democrats have repeatedly derided his proposed 10-year tax plan as the "Leave No Millionaire Behind Act" because it would end most taxes on stock dividends, Bush defended it as sound economic policy that would spur growth.

"The economy grows when Americans have more money to spend and invest," Bush said. "And the best, fairest way to make sure Americans have the money is not to tax it away in the first place."

Bush repeatedly used the theme of compassion to underscore his primary goals at home and abroad.

The president also sought to defuse accusations that the United States is using its position as the world's only superpower to enrich itself and enhance its power by promising that America is interested only in preserving peace and promoting freedom.

"America is a strong nation and honorable in the use of our strength. We exercise power without conquest, and sacrifice for the liberty of strangers," Bush said.