Wrong Axis Leg Taken Out

The tragic irony of the Iraq War is that America took out the wrong leg in the “Axis of Evil” ─ the only one that was not developing weapons of mass destruction. With 20/20 hindsight, it seems to be precisely the reason it was Iraq that was targeted, because it was not the real threat the other two ─ Iran and North Korea pose. Furthermore, it also clarifies why Saddam Hussein bluffed, believing that he could deter a U.S. attack, by trying to convince the world he in fact had weapons of mass destruction.

The U.S. invasion of Iraq accelerated the development of the nuclear weapons programs of Iran and North Korea because it became abundantly clear to both regimes that the only way to deter a U.S. led attack is to have weapons of mass destruction. “The tragedy of growing up is that human beings acquire the means of killing themselves and others. The human race now collectively has that power,” wrote Boris Johnson, a Conservative Member of Parliament in Britain in an editorial opinion published in The Daily Telegraph. He went on to say, “The Iranians will join in soon enough. It might be sensible if they did so in an atmosphere of co-operation and understanding, and not amid intensifying threats and hysteria, especially when those threats are known to be bogus.”

Direct dialogue between America and the other two legs of the Axis is imperative. Both nations leaders’ taunt America with bombastic rhetoric out of frustration that America will not sit down and talk because it prefers the use of military threats and sanctions. How can a dispute be resolved without dialogue? “Talking is not appeasement or being a wimp. It is sensible,” former president Jimmy Carter said about America’s reluctance to sit down and talk with North Korea directly ─ something China and South Korea repeatedly encourage America to do.