43rd President of the USA (2001–9). The son of George (Herbert Walker) Bush, he worked in the oil industry before becoming Governor of Texas in 1995. The presidential election of 2000, in which he stood against Vice-President Al Gore, produced a disputed result and Bush was only declared the winner after a protracted legal battle. Bush responded to the outrage of September 11, 2001, by announcing a war on terrorism and ordering military action against Afghanistan. In collaboration with the UK, but without explicit authorization from the UN, Bush instigated the Iraq War of 2003 on the grounds that Saddam Hussein was producing weapons of mass destruction. Hussein and his regime were crushed but no such weapons were found. Bush was elected for a second term in 2004, but his popularity subsequently declined, in part because of increasing dissatisfaction with the USA’s continuing role in Iraq. He was criticized for his administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina, and measures to counteract the effects of the Credit Crunch were also controversial.