War on terror
Prelude

In October 2002, United States Congress passed the " Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 ", which empowered the U.S. president to order military attack against Iraq. On 5 February 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell made a presentation before the UN Security Council which claimed to implicate Iraq in building a secret WMD program and having ties to Al-Qaeda.

On 17 March 2003, Bush issued an ultimatum to Saddam Hussein and his two sons to flee Iraq within a 48-hour deadline or else face "military conflict". Justifying his policy Bush declared:

"Terrorists and terror states do not reveal these threats with fair notice, in formal declarations—and responding to such enemies only after they have struck first is not self-defense, it is suicide. The security of the world requires disarming Saddam Hussein now."
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