Fort Hood, Tex. ? President Bush on Friday rallied troops he might send to war, saying U.S. forces would “liberate” Iraq if Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein refuses to comply fully with U.N. resolutions demanding disarmament.

“We are ready. We’re prepared,” Bush told a packed, standing-room-only crowd of 4,000 soldiers and their families at the nation’s largest Army base. They shouted “Hoo-ah” and waved small plastic flags.

President Bush visits with soldiers after speaking to about 4,000 troops and their families at Fort Hood, Tex. Bush said Friday that it wasn't too late for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to avert a war.

“Should Saddam Hussein seal his fate by refusing to disarm, by ignoring the opinion of the world, you will be fighting not to conquer anybody, but to liberate people,” the president said.

“No matter what their oppressors may say, the people of Iraq have no love for tyranny. Like all human beings, they desire and they deserve to live in liberty and to live in dignity,” he told the troops.

Bush said it wasn’t too late for Iraq to avert a war, and that the use of military force would be a last choice for the United States.

“Even now, he (Saddam) could end his defiance and dramatically change directions,” he said. “He has that choice to make. We certainly prefer voluntary compliance by Iraq.”

The president told the soldiers that Saddam was a “great threat to the United States” and its allies because he has proclaimed his hatred for America, tortured his own people, used weapons of mass destruction and refused to give up those weapons.

Bush mentioned only once North Korea, which is refusing to give up its own nuclear weapons-development program.

“In the case of North Korea, the world must continue to speak with one voice to turn that regime away from its nuclear ambitions. In the case of Iraq, the world has already spoken with one voice,” he said.

Deep in the crowd, Capt. Robert Morris of the 1st Cavalry Division, which probably would be sent to the region if there were war, said the speech spelled out America’s purpose in the event of conflict.

“We’d be more a liberating force, not a conquering one,” said Morris, 36, of Montague, Mich., a Michigan State graduate.

Fort Hood is the home of the 3rd Corps and some 41,000 soldiers. The 4th Infantry Division and the 1st Cavalry Division, the Army’s biggest with 16,700 troops, are based here. The 1st Cavalry didn’t see any action in Afghanistan, but fought in the Persian Gulf War.