The Axis of Evil in Action

Was Bush right when he made Iraq, Iran and North Korea a loathsome trio?

When President Bush first used "Axis of Evil" to describe Iran, Iraq and North Korea in his State of the Union address last January, the phrase instantly entered the lexicon of contemporary politics. For the President's fans, the words cleverly linked memories of World War II to Bush's belief that the contest with terrorists and the states who succor them is a war of moral clarity. For his foes, the term was cheap and illogical nonsense; there was no "axis," it was said, for the three nations posed different and discrete threats. As for branding them evil, that just proved once...

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