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The term “axis of evil” was used by United States President George W. Bush in his State Of The Union Address on January 29 , 2002 to describe "regimes that sponsor Terror ". Bush named Iraq , Iran , and North Korea in his speech. THE PHRASE The phrase is derived from that of the '' Rogue State '', but the term itself is reminiscent of the Axis Powers of World War II and of President Ronald Reagan 's Evil Empire designation for the Soviet Union . Bush's exact statement was as follows: : goal is to prevent regimes 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. In 1994, the United States and North Korea had entered into the " Agreed Framework " to defuse the issue of the North Korean Nuclear Program . Neither party held to this agreement during the Clinton Administration, and most experts believe North Korea had acquired one or two nuclear weapons before Bush took office. The year after Bush's speech, North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty . Later in 2003, several right-wing political strategists (the Neoconservatives , led by Richard Perle ) favored by the Bush Administration called for military strikes in North Korea against its nuclear sites. ORIGINS OF THE PHRASE Shortly after its utterance, the phrase was attributed to former Bush speechwriter in Iraq in only a few sentences for the upcoming State of the Union address. Frum says he began by rereading President Franklin D. Roosevelt 's "date that will live in infamy" speech given on December 8 , 1941 , after the Japan ese surprise Attack On Pearl Harbor . While Americans needed no convincing about going to war with Japan, Roosevelt saw the greater threat to the United States coming from Germany , and he had to make the case for fighting a two-ocean war. Frum points to a now often-overlooked sentence in Roosevelt's speech which reads in part, "...we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again." Frum interprets Roosevelt's oratory like this: "For FDR, Pearl Harbor was not only an attack—it was a warning of future and worse attacks from another, even more dangerous enemy." Japan, a country with one-tenth of America's industrial capacity, a dependence on imports for all its food, and already engaged in a war with China , was extremely reckless to attack the United States, a recklessness "that made the Axis such a menace to world peace", Frum says. Saddam Hussein's two wars, against Iran and Kuwait , were just as reckless, Frum believed, and therefore presented the same threat to world peace. The more he compared the Axis Powers of World War II to modern "terror states", the more similarities he saw. "The Axis powers disliked and distrusted one another", Frum writes. "Had the Axis somehow won the war, its members would quickly have turned on one another." Iran, Iraq, Al-Qaeda , and Hezbollah , despite quarrelling among themselves however, "all resented power of the West, and they all despised the humane values of democracy." There, Frum saw the connection: "Together, the terror states and the terror organizations formed an axis of hatred against the United States." Frum sent off a memo with the above arguments and also cited some of the atrocities perpetrated by the Iraqi government. He expected his words to be chopped apart and altered beyond recognition, as is the fate of much presidential speechwriting, but his words were ultimately read by Bush nearly verbatim. His term "axis of hatred" had been changed to "axis of evil" to match the theological language used by Bush since September 11, 2001 . North Korea was added to the list, he says, because it was attempting to develop nuclear weapons, had a history of reckless aggression, and "needed to feel a stronger hand". "BEYOND THE AXIS OF EVIL" On (WMD) or have the capability to do so in violation of their treaty obligations". The speech was widely reported as an expansion of the original Axis of Evil. The allegation of Cuban WMD capability was particularly strenuously denied by the Cuban government, and disputed by former President Jimmy Carter who visited the country a week later after being briefed by US officials. In January 2005, at the beginning of Bush's second term as President, the incoming Secretary Of State , Condoleezza Rice , made a speech regarding the newly termed ''" Outposts Of Tyranny "'', a list of six countries deemed most dangerous and Anti-American . This included the two remaining "Axis" members, as well as Cuba , Belarus , Zimbabwe and Myanmar . In April 2006, Israel's UN Ambassador Dan Gillerman cautioned of a new "axis of terror" — Iran, Syria and the Hamas-run Palestinian government. 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. Indeed, 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. Additionally, it is argued that each of the three have some special characteristics which are obscured by grouping them together. Anne Applebaum has written about the debate over North Korea's inclusion in the group. {Link without Title} OTHER USES By analogy to "axis of evil", the term "axis of the willing" has occasionally been applied to the " Coalition Of The Willing " (for countries that participated in the 2003 Invasion Of Iraq ). The term has also lent itself to various parodies, including " or a Nuisance . Hugo Chávez , 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.) {Link without Title} SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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