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New axis of evil ?
"Axis of evil" is a term used to stigmatize countries against
which the U.S. considers launching military conflicts in the
near future. In his State of the Union Address in January 2002,
President George W. Bush labeled Iran, North Korea and Iraq as
part of an "axis of evil".
“States like these (Iran, North Korea and Iraq), 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."
Well, unconsciously Bush was describing the acts and policies
carried out by his administration in the four years following
his historic speech.
It’s the US who threatened and continues to threaten the world
peace by launching two illegal wars, one in Afghanistan and
another in Iraq, and supporting a third one against
Palestinians.
And regarding the threat of weapons of mass destruction, the
US’s arsenal of weapons of mass destruction is believed to be
one of the largest in the world along with Russia's. Also Israel
is widely believed to possess a substantial arsenal of nuclear
weapons and has intermediate-range ballistic missiles to deliver
them. It’s also believed to be developing chemical and
biological weapons programs, but refuses to admit or deny that
it has a nuclear weapon program. Instead, it follows a policy of
deliberate ambiguity, arguing that even if it was proven that it
possesses such weapons it wouldn’t be the first to "introduce
nuclear weapons in the Middle East".
But the US doesn’t fear Israeli WMD, it was concerned about
Iraq’s never found WMD and now about Iran’s alleged nuclear
weapons program.
And about world’s stability, it’s the US who has created the
world’s most serious catastrophes and bloodiest conflicts in
decades.
Who should be labeled as members of Axis of Evil? Yesterday, the
commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards accused the United
States, Britain and Israel of constituting an "axis of evil" and
being responsible for the current tension between Muslim Shias
and Sunnis, which broke out in Iraq and threatens to spill over
into the entire Middle East region and the Arab world.
"America, Britain and the Zionist regime (Israel) are an axis of
evil against the Islamic world and the whole of humanity,"
Iran's student news agency ISNA quoted Guards Commander-in-Chief
Yahya Rahim Safavi as saying.
"They are trying to make enmity among Islamic countries and to
make divisions among Shias and Sunnis."
Rahim’s remarks echoed earlier comments by other Iranian
officials who blamed Washington for the bloody sectarian
conflict in Iraq that has led to the death of scores of Iraqis
and continues to claim more civilian lives everyday.
In a May 2002 speech titled "Beyond the Axis of Evil", the US
Undersecretary of State John Bolton, added Cuba, Libya and Syria
to the nations that the US believes are trying to obtain
chemical or biological weapons.
Bolton also suggested that the US might engage in military
confrontation with those countries.
The use of the term "axis" brings back memories of the "Axis
powers" of World War II (Germany, Italy and Japan) and functions
to prepare the public for acceptance of war against nations that
are included in this axis. But the US’s use of it is misleading,
as it refers to an alliance of certain states that pose a threat
to the world, simply because they oppose Mighty America’s
policies.
Ironically, Iran and Iraq, whom the US tied in one alliance have
been bitter foes for decades, and there was never a pattern of
collaboration between North Korea and those two states.
Source: Aljazeera.com
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