On this day in 2002, not long after the shocking attacks of September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush delivers a State of Union address in which he denounces countries suspected of harboring terrorists and developing weapons of mass destruction.

Both the Clinton and Bush administrations had gathered intelligence regarding al-Qaida terrorists as they organized and attended training camps in Afghanistan. After September 11, Bush ordered the U.S. military into Afghanistan to destroy those terrorist networks and hunt down al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. In his speech, Bush revealed findings in Afghanistan that indicated the existence of global networks of terrorists "schooled in the methods of murder [and] often supported by outlaw regimes." The president went on to name three countries as "rogue nations" that financed or supplied terrorist activity aimed at the United States and other democratic countries, describing North Korea, Iran and Iraq as an "Axis of Evil." In doing so, he implied a frightening--though inaccurate--anti-American conspiracy between the three nations. Bush later took heavy criticism for overstating the countries' connections with each other.

Bush vowed to pursue a preemptive policy in fighting terrorism, stating "America will do whatever is necessary to ensure our nation's security." States who support terrorism "pose a grave and growing danger," he continued. "They could attack our allies or attempt to blackmail the United States. In any of these cases, the price of indifference would be catastrophic." Shortly after the speech, the Bush administration began building a case against Iraq's alleged (and, again, inaccurate) involvement in the September 11 attacks that would eventually lead to war.