George W. Bush and the Axis of Evil
It was the phrase heard round the world ... or at least in the three countries that President George W. Bush named as making up an "axis of evil." During his 2002 State of the Union address, Bush declared that North Korea, Iran and Iraq formed the aforementioned axis and that "the United States of America will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons." North Korea, in particular, did not take kindly to Bush's words, saying, "This is, in fact, little short of declaring a war against the D.P.R.K." Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei called it an honor to be targeted by "the most-hated Satan in the world," while then Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan called the speech just plain "stupid."