U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., with the U.S. Vice President and U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives sitting on a podium behind the president. As the U.S. president, Bush gave the 2002 State of the Union Address on January 29, 2002. He addressed a joint session of the 107th U.S. Congress and special guests, as well as the U.S. and the international community through the televised speech. The 2002 State of the Union address was the first to be delivered by Bush after the September 11 attacks of 2001. The oration addressed the attacks on the U.S. and his plan of action, as well as his goals for the remainder of his term as President. In the address, Bush first introduced the term "axis of evil" in referring to the countries of Iran, Iraq, and North Korea, with the oration being primarily centered on foreign policy. Major themes September 11 attacks Bush spoke about the September 11 attacks four months prior 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. "Axis of evil" 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. Global War on Terrorism and War in Afghanistan Bush declared a