‘AXIS EVIL’ OF

Twenty years ago, President George W. Bush — in his annual State of the Union address and less than five months after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 — warned Congress of three particular nations that harbored, financed and aided terrorists. The United States must do all it can to keep the Axis of Evil from getting its hands of weapons of mass destruction, Bush said. “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.

“(We) will work closely with our coalition to deny terrorists and their state sponsors the materials, technology and expertise to make and deliver weapons of mass destruction.

“And all nations should know: America will do what is necessary to ensure our nation’s security. We’ll be deliberate, yet time is not on our side. I will not wait on events while dangers gather. I will not stand by as peril draws closer and closer. The United States of America will not permit the world’s most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world’s most destructive weapons.

“Our war on terror is well begun, but it is only begun. This campaign may not be finished on our watch, yet it must be, and it will be, waged on our watch.”

The “Axis of Evil” line, arguably one of the defining moments of the Bush presidency, was coined by speechwriter David Frum, who later wrote that he had been asked to “sum in a sentence or two our best case for going after Iraq.” Frum says he started out by re-reading the “date which will live in infamy” speech that Franklin D. Roosevelt gave the day after

Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. He wrote a draft and supplied supporting material justifying his words. At some point, two changes were made: Originally, Frum had cited Iran, Iraq, al-qaeda and Hezbollah. That was changed to Iran, Iraq and North Korea. The other change: Frum had called the threats the “axis of hatred.” Chief speechwriter Mike Gershon tweaked that to “axis of evil.”

In a speech four months later, Undersecretary of State John Bolton would add three more states to the list.

DOUG MILLS/ASSOCIATED PRESS In his address to Congress on Jan. 29, 2002, Bush said, in part:

David Frum