In his State of the Union address, George W. Bush called Iran, Iraq and North Korea an "Axis of Evil" and singled those countries out as targets in his "War Against Terrorism." Though it seems to be his administration's policy that what the rest of the world thinks doesn't matter, the president of
the United States really ought to pay attention to the protests of his country's closest allies over this statement.

Iran is the frontline in the never-ending worldwide battle for freedom and democracy, which are two distinct but related concepts. Since the overthrow of the US-imposed Shah, Iran has been a formal democracy, with regular elections in which the votes have been fairly counted. However, that democracy has been stunted by the power of a conservative clergy that has thrown candidates off of the ballot, removed popularly elected officials from their posts and trampled all over the freedom of expression that is necessary for meaningful elections. The mullahs have suffered smashing defeats in the last several elections, but still maintain control over the country's legal system and military forces and still block many of the policies that President Khatami was elected to carry out.

The Bush administration calls Iran "terrorist" because it supports the Palestinians and the Lebanese Shiite Hizbollah against Israel, because under previous administrations it gave refuge to air pirates, and because it has a program to develop or acquire weapons of mass destruction.

The United States arms Israel, which openly pursues a policy of assassination against Palestinian leaders and which has repeatedly attacked Lebanon. The US government used to have a policy of giving refuge to people who hijacked planes from Cuba or other communist countries. The American arsenal of nuclear weapons is by far the world's largest. The Bush administration's stated reasons for calling Iran a "terrorist state" are thus hypocritical to most international observers.

To lump Islamic Iran in with its bitter secular enemy Iraq and the weird communist monarchy in North Korea is the sort of bizarre conspiracy theory one might expect from Lyndon LaRouche, but not from the president of the United States. If George W. Bush has any evidence of these countries working in concert as some sort of axis, he hasn't shared it with the world. The allegation of an "Axis of Evil" is simply not credible, and won't be unless proof is shown.

But meanwhile, what is the effect of Bush's declaration in Iran? It strengthens the unelected hard-liners against the popular president, and gives those who think that Iran ought to amass an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction a perfect excuse. The man who commands the world's biggest and most sophisticated military machine is talking incoherently and pointing a hostile finger, and an Iranian need not be a religious fanatic to come to the conclusion that some sort of terrible deterrent is needed.

America's European allies have a more sensible approach to Iran. They are reaching out to Khatami, maintaining their objections to many of the policies imposed by the unelected mullahs and working toward normal relations with Iran. The European policy, rather than Bush's, is the one that's more likely to deter terrorism and promote peace and stability in the world.

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