U.S. President George W. Bush said Jan. 29 that tens of thousands of terrorists --"ticking time bombs, set to go off" — still threaten the United States and promised to stalk them across the globe
In his first State of the Union address, he also pledged a battle of equal vigor to revive the ailing economy.
"We will prevail in war, and we will defeat this recession," Bush said.
Nearly five months after the Sept. 11 attacks, Bush vowed to push the war on terrorism beyond Afghanistan to a dozen countries that he said harbor terrorist camps.
He also warned of "an axis of evil," incorporating nations like North Korea, Iran and Iraq. Bush said the United States would not allow them to threaten the world with weapons of mass destruction.
"The remarks were merely U.S. shenanigans aimed at continuing with its policy of aggression against us," North Korea's official news agency said Jan. 31
Iraqi officials said Bush's remarks were "stupid" and "inappropriate of the president of the (world's) biggest country."
A top U.S. official noted Jan. 30 that Bush "did not name the next three countries the United States is going to attack."