Who's Laughing at the ‘Axis of Evil’ today?

As Byron York points out, lots of funny people had quite a laugh over President Bush's phrase "axis of evil" and he presents a fairly straightforward argument for it.  I want to take a little different angle.

Over the last 7 years of his Presidency, Bush essentially conducted three different experiments on how to deal with the AOE, direct intervention, delegation and negotiation.

Iraq is his direct intervention experiment.  While the left will never admit it, it is a success my all measure, in particular the three clear markers laid down by Bush:  elimination of Saddam and his government, free and fair elections and the ability to defend themselves.   Our troops have succeeded by ever measure.

He also experimented with delegation by allowing the UN and the EU to conduct negotiations with Iran to end their nuclear weapons programs.  So today they have 7,000 centrifuges (they started with zero), a fully functional nuclear plant, a missile capable of putting a satellite in orbit, an advanced air defense system and a president who has clearly stated his primary goal of eliminating Israel from this planet even if it would mean the loss of 1/2 of his population.  A clear failure as a method of dealing with the AOE.

The final experiment was negotiation.  President Bush was continually beat up about not talking with North Korea.  So, he embarked on six-party talks which boxed North Korea into saying the same thing to all six parties at the same time.  Rather than playing one against the other, it forced a "good faith" negotiation between the parties.  The response of the North Koreans was predictable, they simply talked and grumble and continued their efforts - with the help of Iran as well.  The result of this path?  The recent launch of a long-range ICBM, a solid next step in technology that can endanger their neighbors as well as those of other countries around the world as they sell this technology to other states.  The continued efforts in the development of nuclear weapons material - they currently have enough material for an estimated 15 nuclear bombs, the reopening of their processing facility and the tossing out of the UN inspection team.  Yet another clear failure.

President Obama is left with a clear choice and clear results in this experiment.  The entire world can see which method crafted the best results for the safety of the world.  And yet, the world allows the clock to keep ticking.  The final result will be no laughing matter.

 

Who's Laughing at the ‘Axis of Evil’ today?

By: Byron York
Chief Political Correspondent
04/16/09 9:00 PM

There are undoubtedly people who have a more vivid memory of Will Farrell’s "Saturday Night Live" version of the "Axis of Evil" — the one in which Farrell, as President George W. Bush, denounced Iran, Iraq and "one of those Koreas" — than of the real thing from Bush's 2002 State of the Union address. A lot of comedians made a lot of fun of the "Axis of Evil" concept. But now, more than seven years later, it's looking pretty solid.