President Bush wants a second U.N. resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq if it does not cooperate with inspectors searching for weapons of mass destruction.
President Bush says the "game is over," that it is time for the U.N. Security Council to take action against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein because he is violating U.N. resolutions demanding that he disarm.
"Saddam Hussein was given a final chance. He is throwing that chance away. The dictator of Iraq is making his choice. Now the nations of the Security Council must make their own," he said.
Mr. Bush says it is a moment of truth for the United Nations which he says must renew its purpose as a source of stability and demonstrate that it is prepared to meet future challenges to its authority.
"Now the Security Council will show whether its words have any meaning. Having made its demands, the Security Council must not back down when those demands are defied and mocked by a dictator," he said.
The president called for a second resolution restating U.N. demands, but said that resolution will have little meaning without the will to act.
"The United States would welcome and support a new resolution which makes clear that the Security Council stands behind its previous demands. Yet resolutions mean little without resolve," he said. "And the United States along with a growing coalition of nations is resolved to take whatever action is necessary to defend ourselves and disarm the Iraqi regime."
With more than 100,000 troops in the region and more on the way, Mr. Bush says he is ready to use force against Iraq if the U.N. does not act. "Saddam Hussein has the motive, and the means and the recklessness and the hatred to threaten the American people. Saddam Hussein will be stopped," he said.
Mr. Bush says Americans saw what terrorists could do with four airplanes in the September 2001 attacks in New York and Washington. He says the country will not wait to see what terrorists could do with chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons.
Previously, White House officials have said a second resolution would be "desirable but not mandatory" ahead of U.S. military action.
The president Thursday again sought to rally broader support for a second resolution by saying that the danger that Saddam Hussein poses reaches around the world as Iraq is helping terrorists who have planned attacks in France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Russia, and the Republic of Georgia.
Mr. Bush says there is no doubt that the Iraqi leader will now engage in what he calls "another round of empty concessions and transparently false denials" in a "last-minute game of deception."
The president spoke following a meeting with Secretary of State Colin Powell who made the administration's case against Iraq at the Security Council Wednesday.
Iraq says it does not have weapons of mass destruction and dismissed Secretary Powell's report as containing incorrect allegations and unnamed sources.