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determined to acquire weapons of mass destruction
along with other advanced military technology, to
be used as threats or offensively to achieve the
aggressive designs of these regimes; sponsor
terrorism around the globe; and reject basic human
values and hate the United States and everything for
which it stands. (quoted in Minnerop, 2004, p. 8)
Thus is sketched a tableau of good (us) versus evil (them) as the template
for understanding contemporary international affairs. Edelman’s (1993)
observation about the political function of categorization is relevant here:
“What seems to be an objective term for describing people or actions is
an ideological weapon” (p. 241).
In January 2002, President Bush stated the following in reference to
the countries of Iran, Iraq, and North Korea:
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,
Convention