George W. Bush's First Term As President of The United States | George Bush Term President United States

George W. Bush's first term as president of the United States began on January 20, 2001 and continued until his second term commenced on January 20, 2005. By far the most memorable event of this first term in office was the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia.

Bush was instrumental in pushing forward legislation in education and national security, in bringing about tax-reduction and allocating funds for global emergency AIDS relief. He withdrew the United States from participation in the 1998 Kyoto Protocol on world climate change and from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, as well as withdrawing U.S. support for the International Criminal Court, but his legacy was defined by his response to the 9/11 terrorist attack.

Shortly after the terrorist attack, a U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan resulted in the overthrow of the Taliban government in Kabul, a regime which had allowed terrorist training camps, directed at western targets, to operate in Afghanistan. This approach was symptomatic of a change in the perception of the world and of the international threats to the United States, one expounded in Bush's 2002 State of the Union Address and known subsequently as the Bush Doctrine. The United States gave itself the right to pursue its enemies wherever they could be found. In 2003, a U.S.-led military force invaded Iraq.

More and more people understand that being a patriot is more than just putting your hand over your heart and saying the Pledge of Allegiance to a nation under God... more and more people understand that serving something greater than yourself in life is a part of being a complete American —President George W Bush, Thursday, August 15, 2002

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