US Protests: On the eve of an almost certain invasion of Iraq, Mr Bush is facing an increasingly fractious nation and a fast-growing anti-war movement. He is also facing a more hostile world abroad than at any time since the Vietnam War, writes Conor O'Clery.
As he worked the telephones at the weekend to drum up support for tomorrow's UN Security Council vote, thousands of anti-war protesters demonstrated outside the White House, and a bigger demonstration is planned for next week.
Using the Internet, anti-war groups are planning spontaneous actions in places like New York's Times Square on the day a war breaks out, as well as sit-ins at federal buildings and recruiting offices.
Yesterday, former US president Mr Jimmy Carter, in breach of a convention by which former presidents do not criticise incumbents, added his voice to the protests, accusing Mr Bush of pursuing an unjust war.
"As a Christian and as a president who was severely provoked by international crises, I became thoroughly familiar with the principles of a just war and it is clear that a substantial, unilateral attack on Iraq does not meet these standards," he wrote in the New York Times.
Mr Carter, president from 1977 to 1981, argued that, with its security not directly threatened, the US was preparing to carry out an act "almost unprecedented in the history of civilised nations".
Across the US some 125 cities and towns have approved anti-war resolutions, and even New York City, where nearly 3,000 people died in the September 11th attacks, is set to pass a similar measure on Wednesday.
Some of the anti-war protests, like that in New York's Union Square last week, have been hijacked by militant groups, but increasingly unions, war veterans, professionals and college students are swelling their ranks.
The activists oppose war on the grounds that Iraq is not a threat and is disarming, however grudgingly; that an invasion will cause untold civilian suffering; and that the anti-US resentment which produced 9/11 will only deepen.
"It's almost certainly going to guarantee not only more violence in the Middle East, but will almost guarantee another calamitous attack on US soil," said Mr Scott Lynch, of Peace Action, one of many anti-war groups.
Among 25 women arrested outside the White House in Saturday's demonstration were well known writers like Alice Walker, Susan Griffin and Terry Tempest Williams. The protest was linked to International Women's Day and was heckled by counter demonstrators.
Pro-war demonstrations and rallies in support of troops are also becoming more frequent as tensions rise in advance of military action. At Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for example, about 250 people rallied in support of US troops on Saturday.
Anger at peace activists was expressed at a pro-Bush rally in Orlando, Florida, where a placard read: "America - Love It or Leave It."
Mr Bush, meanwhile, is said to be preparing for war with a religious calm, not expressing any misgivings either publicly or privately despite the growing turmoil on the streets and the disintegration of old alliances.
"He's very determined, I would say. He didn't give me the idea that he was shaky," said Papal envoy Cardinal Pio Laghi, after meeting Mr Bush last week.
In the US media, grave doubts about the war are now widely expressed. Columnist Thomas Friedman in yesterday's New York Times accused the President of taking a "war of choice" and turning it into a "war of necessity" by linking it with al-Qaeda through persistent exaggerations.
Mr Bush cited 9/11 eight times in a major news conference about Iraq on Thursday. The linkage has been repeated so often by the White House that 42 per cent of Americans in a Times/CBS News survey said they believe Saddam Husein was personally responsible for 9/11.
The President added fuel to European resentments over what the Washington Post called his "clumsy and often high-handed diplomacy" by declaring on Thursday that "when it comes to our security, we really don't need anybody's permission".
Some critics also claim that Mr Bush's obsession with Iraq has allowed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to fester, and has enhanced the image of the US, poised to invade an Arab country, as an uncritical ally of Israel.