In response to the September 11 terrorist attacks, Bush launched a 'War on Terror' that began with the war in Afghanistan in 2001. He also launch the Iraq War in 2003, with the administration arguing that the Saddam Hussein regime possessed an active weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program, and that the Iraqi government posed a threat to the United States. In a September 20 speech, Bush condemned Osama bin Laden and his organization Al-Qaeda, and issued an ultimatum to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, where bin Laden was operating, to 'hand over the terrorists, or ... share in their fate'.