The War on Terrorism, or War on Terror, was a campaign that the United States and some of its allies started to remove terrorist groups and to punish the states that sponsor terrorism. It replaced the Cold War. The former United States President Bush's argument was that the countries like North Korea, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Libya (also known as the Axis of Evil) were a direct threat to the United States and its allies. The term was typically used with a particular focus on militant Islamists and al-Qaeda.
The Administration of former U.S. President Barack Obama used the term Overseas Contingency Operation.