Bush will address the nation at 9 p.m. EST as polls show that Americans are increasingly reluctant to back war with Iraq, particularly without more evidence that Saddam is a threat to the United States.

Powell said the administration will reveal new evidence "in the days ahead" of Iraq's connections to bin Laden's al-Qaida network. The White House says Iraq has illicit chemical and biological weapons, an assertion denied by Baghdad.

Senior White House officials said Bush opted for a broad argument against Saddam in part to avoid having the State of the Union dominated by Iraq.

They said the president wants to show voters that his White House can focus on problems at home as well as abroad with a domestic agenda that includes massive tax cuts, Medicare reform, prescription drugs for the elderly, health insurance for small businesses and new initiatives that help religious groups provide federally funded community services, such as drug treatment.

Preparing for the address, Bush met conservative newspaper columnists and rehearsed the speech, timed at about 45 minutes, in front of a TelePrompTer.

Leading Republicans across the country received White House memos designed to guide their interviews with reporters. The GOP officials were told to promote Bush's plans for the economy, jobs, health care, "compassionate" faith-based community services and, lastly, Iraq.

"Most of the State of the Union will not be about Iraq," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. "Most of the State of the Union will be about improving America's economy and providing greater access to health care for millions of American people, including senior citizens."

Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle challenged the White House to show "proof to the world" that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction.

As the party's top leaders joined for a pre-emptive assault on Bush's address, Daschle and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi accused Bush of creating a "credibility gap" on a raft of issues.

In the face of the criticism, Fleischer and Powell repeated the president's long-held beliefs that Iraq has been a refuge for al-Qaida and that Iraqis have trained terrorists in the use of chemical weapons.

"As we've been able to focus on this more and look back in time, I think we're more confident of that assessment," Powell said. "The information that we can divulge in greater detail, we will be divulging in the days ahead."

Senior terrorist suspects detained since the war in Afghanistan have recently provided new information linking Iraq to al-Qaida, two top administration officials said.

One official said Bush is more convinced of the connection than he was in October, when he last discussed the potential ties at length.

Neither Fleischer nor Powell provided details. "It's a story that's unfolding," the spokesman said.

Afterward, officials said Bush had tapped Powell to outline the evidence against Saddam, most likely early next week.

On the domestic front, Bush is working on details of a plan that would encourage Medicare beneficiaries to choose alternatives, such as managed care and preferred provider organizations, to get prescription drug coverage under the federal plan.

Bush also wants Congress to help small businesses band together to buy health insurance for their employees. But the initiative faces opposition from consumer groups and governors because it would be largely exempt from state regulation.

Pushing a new plank in his "faith-based initiative," Bush was proposing a new way to direct drug treatment dollars to religious organizations. His plan would give people seeking treatment vouchers that would allow them to seek help at any center, including those with religious approaches.

The plan is sure to be controversial because many religious drug treatment programs do not employ medical approaches and do not use staff that have been licensed for this work.

(China Daily January 28, 2003)