WASHINGTON -- A year after attacking Afghanistan to snare Osama bin Laden "dead or alive," U.S. President George W. Bush is pushing for military action against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, "the guy who tried to kill my dad."

Bin Laden -- who has claimed responsibility for the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon -- has virtually vanished from the president's frequent orations on the war on terrorism.

Bush has replaced him with Saddam, saying there is a "high risk" that Iraq will launch a surprise attack against the United States or arm terrorists with biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons for that purpose, AFP reported.

Absent UN action to confront Iraq, "the United States, in deliberate fashion, will lead a coalition to take away the world's worst weapons from one of the world's worst leaders," Bush warned on Thursday.

One year ago, Bush hunted Bin Laden, telling reporters just six days after the attacks the Saudi-born militant orchestrated: "I want justice. There's an old poster out West, as I recall, that said, `Wanted Dead or Alive.'" "We'll smoke him out of his cave, and we'll get him eventually," the president said of Bin Laden, who still scowls from his photograph atop the FBI's lists of 22 most wanted terrorists and 10 most wanted fugitives.

But the offensive the U.S. leader launched in Afghanistan October 7 has yet to yield the capture of Taleban leader Mullah Omar or Bin Laden or produce evidence establishing beyond doubt whether they are alive or dead.

And Bush has moved on to a new public enemy number one, Saddam Hussein, whom U.S. officials have tied to an April 1993 car-bomb plot to kill former President George Bush, the president's father, who defeated Saddam in the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

"There's no doubt his hatred is mainly directed at U.S. There's no doubt he can't stand U.S. After all, this is the guy that tried to kill my dad," the president said late last week, enhancing the standoff's personal tone.

The renewed focus on Iraq comes after opinion polls over the last four months have found the U.S. public sharply divided on whether Bush can proclaim victory in his war on terrorism without being certain of Bin Laden's fate.

A July survey by the gallup organization found that half of Americans will consider operations in the Afghan theatre "not a success" if Bin Laden is not captured, against 38 percent who say it will be a success regardless.

A poll one month earlier by the Harris Group found that 47 percent would consider the campaign in Afghanistan a success even if it does not yield Bin Laden's capture or his corpse.

Meanwhile, Bush has led a parade of senior administration officials doing their best to minimize the importance of the fate of Omar and Bin Laden and accentuate the importance of policy toward Iraq. "I don't know whether Osama bin Laden is dead or alive. I don't know that. He's not leading a lot of parades," he told CBS television this September 11. "This is much bigger than one person anyway."

Bush has reimagined the coalition campaign against the Taleban to put a new focus on freeing Afghan women from the militia's severe brand of Islam -- a factor entirely absent from his original justification for the offensive.

His chief spokesman, meanwhile, upped the ante in the conflict with Baghdad, making headlines by urging Iraqis to exile or assassinate their leader because "one bullet" or a "one-way ticket" would cost less than U.S. military action.