President Bush is treading on thin ice. During his State of the Union address to congressional members, his cabinet, military leaders and political dignitaries, Bush said the United States has overcome many challenges in the past, such as our impressive military campaigns in the Gulf War and Afghanistan.

He said the United States will not ignore countries when our well-being is at risk and when other people are being persecuted daily — even if it means pursuing military action against his favorite foe, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, with hardly any backing.

“If Saddam doesn’t disarm, we will lead a coalition to disarm him,” Bush said.

After U.N. weapons inspectors presented a report to the U.N. Security Council on Monday saying that they had not found “a smoking gun” to incriminate Iraq with possible weapons of mass destruction, representatives from countries such as France, China and Germany pleaded for more time.

These countries have also called on the United States to not act in haste. They have made their opinions clear that they do not back the Bush administration in pursuing war against the Middle Eastern country. Without their backing, the United States could be alone with Great Britain in a coalition against Iraq.

Bush had a message for the Iraqi people last night, saying that “Your enemy is not surrounding your country. Your enemy is ruling your country.” Our president told of the ways many Iraqi people have been tortured under Saddam’s long, oppressive rule.

He also said that Saddam “clearly has much to hide” from U.N. inspectors in regard to U.S. evidence that Iraq is keeping its weapons out of sight.

Bush said on Feb. 5 Secretary of State Colin Powell will present evidence of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and its al-Qaida ties to the United Nations in support of military action.

It’s not too difficult to figure out that Saddam is a very evil man, and he could very well be more dangerous than Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida, but Bush’s proposal of acting unilaterally in a war against Iraq could shift our alliances in the wrong direction.

Instead of the “United States and the rest of the world versus Iraq,” Bush’s policies could sway that to the “United States and Britain versus the rest of the world and Iraq.”

At this point, we have a lot to lose, as does Saddam. But Bush should not use his unilateralist, “go-it-alone” policies to isolate our most valuable allies.

The Bush administration should slow the pace and present sound and detailed evidence that our government has against Iraq before they rush into the money-filled oil fields of Iraq.

Editorial Board: Cavan Reagan, Amber Billings, Ayrel Clark, Charlie Weaver