Anonymous
New Player for the "Axis of Evil" Team
Sat Apr 19 17:07:37 2003
67.1.142.38

April 20, 2003
WANTED:
New Player for the "Axis of Evil" Team

By Ivan Eland*
http://www.independent.org/tii/news/030420Eland.html
In the wake of the U.S.'s triumphant romp through Iraq, there is
a yawning hole in the "axis of evil." In the past, when the
stakes were much greater, there have always been three nations in
such "Darth Vader" coalitions. During World War I, the nations
wearing the black hats were Germany, the Ottoman Empire, and the
Austro-Hungarian Empire. In World War II, we had Germany (again),
Italy and Japan. So to continue to mimic the giants of old and
provide a universe of nations to fight in a perpetual war for
perpetual peace, the Bush administration needs to demonize,
elevate and enshrine another despotic nation in its dream team of
malcontents.


One administration official recently characterized Syria, Libya
and Cuba as the "junior varsity" of evil. So will one of these
bad boys be elevated to the varsity squad? With the
administration's recent white hot rhetoric against
Syria--accusing that regime of producing chemical weapons,
harboring terrorists and the defunct autocrats of Iraq, and, in
general, being a "rogue" state--that country is probably pulling
the best odds now in Las Vegas. But not so fast--don't count out
Moammar Qaddafi of Libya and Fidel Castro of Cuba. If Michael
Jordan can make a comeback, so could they. Granted, the odds are
greater for them, but they had years of experience on the varsity
team before being sent down to the junior varsity.


Fidel Castro, with the support of the Soviet Union (the "Evil
Empire") and communist China, was a thorn in the side of the
United States during the Cold War. With the collapse of Castro's
Soviet benefactor, he has been quieter in recent years. If he
wants to get back in the game, he'll have to rehabilitate his
sagging military and revive his now dormant efforts to sponsor
terrorism (like North Korea, Cuba remains on State Department's
politicized list of nations sponsoring terrorism even though its
efforts in the last decade have been rather pathetic).


And remember Qaddafi of Libya? During the Reagan administration,
the ruler of that small North African country was not only on the
varsity squad of thugs--he was the star. The Reagan
administration, primarily in order to justify pumping up the
defense budget, made Qaddafi the essence of evil, but then
eventually forgot about him. Reagan's successor--Bush I--left him
alone because Iraq's Saddam Hussein, Serbia's Slobodan Milosevic
and Panama's Manual Noreiga became the "dangerous" tinpot tyrants
of that administration. Clinton, of course, continued harassing
Hussein and Milosevic and substituted Haiti's Raoul Cedras for
the defrocked Noreiga in the club of third world goons that were
wrongly compared to Hitler (a truly dangerous titan of doom who
actually had formidable military and economic means and was
trying to take over an entire region of economic and
technological power). But Qaddafi is still around and could
certainly come off the bench to fill the vacant spot.


In the long shot category, we have Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
Although the two countries are not on America's list of terrorist
nations because they are "friends" (many of whom, over the years,
have gone over to the other team), they have provoked the ire of
hawks who have the ear of coach Bush II. Although the Saudis have
buckets of oil and the Pakistanis are (sort of) helping the
United States hunt for Osama bin Laden, those nations previously
either directly or indirectly aided al Qaeda--a terrorist group
that actually attacks the United States (unlike the terrorist
groups supported by Saddam Hussein that never focused their
attacks on the United States).


And what about al Qaeda for inclusion in the axis? The group has
almost no chance of filling the empty spot on the "axis of evil"
roster because it is actually a threat to the United States. Like
Iraq, which has been cut from the squad, the other axis
teammates--Iran and North Korea--are small, relatively poor
nations with antiquated militaries that reside half way around
the world from the United States. If left alone, they would pose
little threat to the colossal American superpower. As the CIA
said before Gulf War II, unless attacked, Iraq would probably not
use its weapons of destruction against the United States or give
them to terrorists. (In fact, Iraq did not even use them even in
that extreme circumstance--conclusively demonstrating its
insignificance as a threat.) The same is likely to be true for
the other current members of the axis. In the worst case, even if
Iran, North Korea or members of the junior varsity of "rogues"
obtain a few nuclear weapons, they could be deterred from using
them to attack the United States by the crushing world dominance
of the massive American nuclear arsenal.


The very fact that al Qaeda is a genuine threat to the United
States, and that the countries of the axis are not, means that
the terrorist group will never make the team. In fact, the Bush
administration needed the axis to divert public attention from
the embarrassment of not finding Osama bin Laden and destroying
al Qaeda. Because that reality still holds, the administration
needs to quickly select a new draft pick to fill the big sneakers
of Iraq in the hall of fame of the wicked.


--
The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's
profitable to continue the illusion.

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