Bush to make direct appeal to US heartland

Thwarted in his quest for a early and tough UN Security Council resolution against Iraq, President George Bush is seeking to regain the initiative by going on national television tomorrow.

Mr Bush will speak in Cincinnati, Ohio, carefully chosen for its "American heartland" connotations. His speech, already on its fifth draft, will be aimed at both the UN and Congress, which this week will debate resolutions authorising military force against Saddam Hussein's regime if it does not disarm.

In a possible preview, the President devoted a second successive radio address to Iraq yesterday, warning of the "massive and sudden" horror Baghdad could inflict if it were not disarmed. President Saddam was "cruel and dangerous", said Mr Bush; the day before, he called the Iraqi leader a "cold-blooded killer", a description he has used only for the terrorists who took part in the September 2001 attacks in the US.

"We hope that Iraq complies with the world's demands," he said yesterday. "If, however, the Iraqi regime persists in its defiance, the use of force may become unavoidable. Delay, indecision and inaction are not options for America."

But the need for support from Security Council doubters – France, Russia and China – has led him recently to stress that war is a last resort, and he added: "The United States does not desire military conflict ... we will never seek war unless it is essential to security and justice."

It appears that Washington is reluctantly coming closer to the French position, which is that UN weapons inspectors should be sent to Iraq first, and a decision on the use of force deferred until they report back. But the Pentagon accused Iraq of exploiting the delay to hide its weapons of mass destruction.

Baghdad, for its part, urged France, Russia and China to be "brave", and not to yield to US demands. The Iraqi Foreign Minister, Naji Sabri, is on a tour of neighbouring countries to seek solidarity against any American-led attack. It emerged yesterday that the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been invited by Mr Bush to visit Washington this month, almost certainly to avoid an upsurge of Israeli-Palestinian violence during the build-up to war on Iraq.

Of late the US has played down calls for "regime change" in Iraq, partly because of disagreements in the administration about what would happen once President Saddam has gone. While the Pentagon sees the main exile group, the Iraqi National Congress, and its leader, Ahmad Chalabi, as key to Iraq's future, the State Department and CIA have done their utmost to discredit both Mr Chalabi and his organisation.

The anti-Saddam cause has been bolsteredby a show of unity between rival Kurdish parties in northern Iraq. On Friday the Kurdistan National Assembly met for the first time since 1994. Jalal Talabani, head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, appeared with Massoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, who said: "Our goal now is not just to make Kurdistan free, but to make Iraq free."