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Axis of Evil
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|The Axis of Evil|
One possible interpretation
What is the Axis of Evil?
Axis of evil was a propaganda term used by United States President George W. Bush in his State of the Union Address on January 29, 2002 to describe governments that he accused of sponsoring terrorism and seeking weapons of mass destruction. Bush named Iraq, Iran, and North Korea in his speech which is reproduced below.
[Our goal] is to prevent regimes (terrorist) that sponsor terror from threatening America or our friends and allies with weapons of mass destruction. Some of these regimes have been pretty quiet since September the 11th. But we know their true nature. North Korea is a regime arming with missiles and weapons of mass destruction, while starving its citizens.
Iran aggressively pursues these weapons and exports terror, while an unelected few repress the Iranian people's hope for freedom.
Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror. The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax, and nerve gas, and nuclear weapons for over a decade. This is a regime that has already used poison gas to murder thousands of its own citizens—leaving the bodies of mothers huddled over their dead children. This is a regime that agreed to international inspections—then kicked out the inspectors. This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world.States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger. They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred. They could attack our allies or attempt to blackmail the United States. In any of these cases, the price of indifference would be catastrophic.
The Axis is Revealed!
An attempt to illustrate the tenuous nature of the Axis of Evil
Criticism of the Term
One criticism is that unlike the Axis powers, the three nations mentioned in Bush's speech have not been coordinating public policy, and therefore the term axis is incorrect. Also, while the Axis Powers of World War Two signed diplomatic treaties, such as the Pact of Steel and the Tripartite Pact, with one another that created a military alliance between them, none of the nations that make up the "axis of evil" have taken similar steps.
In addition, Iran and Iraq fought the long, bloody Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, under basically the same leadership as that which existed at the time of Bush's speech leading some to believe the linking between the nations under the same banner as misguided. Others argue that each of the three have some special characteristics which are obscured by grouping them together.
Furthermore, other information Bush cited in his state of the union address — primarily dealing with Iraq and its alleged weapons of mass destruction and terror ties — have been labeled false by Senate-appointed committee investigations. Moreover, the bulk of the arguments dealing with the axis of evil members have been shown to be dependent on factually flawed information.
|The Axis of Evil|
US foreign policy in a nutshell
Apart from noting the correct pluralisation of 'axis', we should take the time to list the most notable other arbitrary groupings of nations that exist.
Axis of the Willing
Also known as The Coalition of the Willing when we are talking about forceful negotiations, this grouping is widely held to mean those countries that contributed to the armed intervention exercise conducted in Iraq in 2003.
Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps
Among his other speeches, Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi (the chief commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps of Iran) has spoken of a true axis of evil consisting of the United States, Britain and Israel. There may well be some truth in this allegation.
Some Venzuelan Chappy
Hugo Chávez, the President of Venezuela, has described "Washington and its allies" as an "axis of evil," in contrast to an "axis of good" comprising Venezuela, Cuba, and Bolivia (all three countries now governed by leftist leaders.) Popular ARRSEr KGB Rezident has views on this - scroll down.
- Anyone planning a solo operation to rid the World of Evil should reference this website first.