Axis of Evil: An Inverted Threat Matrix

Abstract

President George W. Bush’s 2002 State of the Union Address greatly expanded the war on terror from a focus on al Qaeda and its Afghan Taliban hosts to three rogue states seeking dangerous weapons of mass destruction: Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. Bush labeled these countries “an axis of evil” that threatened world peace: “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.”¹