2002 State of the Union Address

Bush spoke about the September 11 attacks of the previous year that killed thousands of people in New York City, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. The Islamist terrorist organization al-Qaeda carried out the attack with 19 hijackers that took over four commercial airline flights and crashed them into the World Trade Center's Twin Towers in New York City's Lower Manhattan, and into the Pentagon in Virginia's Arlington County.

During the attack, two of the hijacked airplanes crashed into the upper portions of the twin towers of New York City's World Trade Center and one into the Pentagon. United Airlines Flight 93, which was also taken over by hijackers, failed to crash into its intended target in Washington, D.C. when passengers on the flight received information about the ongoing attacks and revolted against the terrorists, causing the plane to crash in an open field in the rural Pennsylvanian countryside.[6]

An "axis of evil" was a term first used by President Bush in this address. The so-called "axis of evil" was said to be made up of three countries: Iran, Iraq, and North Korea. These countries were cited as countries pursuing chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons and having terrorist training camps. The president warned, "States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world". Bush's stated goal was to disarm these countries and destroy their terrorist training camps.[7]

U.S. Army Special Forces sergeant Mario Vigil in November 2001, with American and Northern Alliance forces west of Konduz, Afghanistan.

Bush declared a "Global War on Terrorism", saying that the U.S. would act against any country that was aiding or harboring terrorists. His goals for the war were to end terrorism and its threat on the United States and to bring all terrorists to justice, either by capturing them and prosecuting them legally, or by killing them. In the months before the speech, Bush claimed that the U.S. military freed Afghanistan and was the country's allies against terrorism. The women in Afghanistan were freed and part of the new government and rebuilding of their country. The President felt the war in Afghanistan was just the beginning of the war against terror. He said, "Thousands of dangerous killers, schooled in the methods of murder, often supported by outlaw regimes, are now spread throughout the world like ticking time bombs, set to go off without warning." The two main goals of the war were to shut down training camps and capture terrorists and prevent terrorists from obtaining weapons of mass destruction. The American troops were deployed on missions in the Philippines, Bosnia, and the coast of Africa. Bush called for increased funding for the war to get precision weapons, replace aircraft, and increase pay raise for soldiers.[1] In 2002 there were 69 casualties in Afghanistan. By 2012 there have been 2,920 casualties in Afghanistan and 4,802 casualties in Iraq.[8]

The September 11 attacks of 2001 increased Bush's desire for a larger allocation of funds for "homeland security" purposes, to protect the U.S. against further terrorist attacks. Bush stated, "The next priority of my budget is to do everything possible to protect our citizens and strengthen our nation against the ongoing threat of another attack."

The four areas of focus in homeland security were bio-terrorism, emergency response, airport and border security, and improved intelligence. Bush believed effective execution of homeland security would make the U.S. a stronger country. The funding went to developing defenses against biochemical weapons, better training for police and emergency personnel, and stronger security at borders and airports. The President wanted to prevent another attack from happening and be more prepared if one occurred.[1] The legislation establishing the Department of Homeland Security was passed by Congress and signed into law by the President in November 2002. The Homeland Security Act of 2002 brought together 22 separate agencies with the mission to prevent terrorism, reduce vulnerability to terrorism, and minimize the damage of a terrorist attack on the United States.[9]

The U.S. economy went through a recession in 2001 for the first time in a decade. A reporter at CNN wrote, "The most common definition of a recession is two or more quarters of a shrinking economy." The factors defining a recession include declines in employment, industrial production, and income and sales.[10] The unemployment rate jumped to 4.9%, which was the highest rate in the past four years.[11] Experts at NBER, the National Bureau of Economic Research, argue that the economy likely could have avoided the recession if not for the September 11th attacks. The attacks shut down the economy for several days and had a lasting impact on tourism and other businesses.[10] The President was aware of the economic problems entering office and in the speech addressed methods of reviving the economy. The president summed up his plan when he said, "When America works, America prospers, so my economic security plan can be summed up in one word: jobs." President Bush's plan addressed the importance of education, affordable energy, expanded trade, and sound economic and fiscal policy to create "good jobs" for the American people. Bush argued that the most effective means of creating jobs was by investing in factories and equipment and speeding up tax relief. He pushed for a stimulus package to be passed by Congress to aid in relief.[1]