After radical Islamic terrorists struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001,

George W. Bush, the new 43rd president of the United States, swung into action. His every thought

was about keeping America safe. Supported by a highly experienced team, consisting of Vice President Dick Cheney,

Secretary of State Colin Powell, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and National Security

Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Bush, himself a former Texas Air National Guard fighter pilot, declared

a war on terror. The real-life villain was Osama bin Laden, the leader of the Islamic

terrorist group Al-Qaeda and the mastermind of the 9-11 attack. Bush emphasized that he would

make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.

This put Afghanistan's Taliban regime, which had given al-Qaeda safe haven, in the crosshairs.

In October 2001, Bush ordered military action in Afghanistan.

Within two months, the Taliban was overthrown, replaced by a new government friendly to the United States.

Osama bin Laden, however, evaded capture.

Bush could have ended it there, but he worried

that a new attack, perhaps of even greater magnitude, was inevitable. The main source of his

fear was Saddam Hussein, the dictator of Iraq and longtime sponsor of terrorism. With a history

of violating UN resolutions and fierce antagonism to the U.S., Hussein boasted about his nuclear

weapons program. The CIA and Great Britain's MI6 insisted it wasn't a bluff. The United States,

Bush argued, couldn't wait for threats to fully materialize. He declared that if Iraq did not

abandon its weapons of mass destruction, America would act.

When Hussein ignored him, Bush, with the support of both Republicans and Democrats, made good

on his warning. In March 2003, U.S. led forces invaded Iraq. Within one month, Hussein was gone,

and within two months, Bush stood on the deck of an aircraft

...