DATE=04/02/2002

TYPE=EDITORIAL

NUMBER=0-09798

TITLE=EDITORIAL: BUSH REVISITS AXIS OF EVIL

INTERNET=Yes

CONTENT=THIS EDITORIAL IS BEING RELEASED FOR USE BY ALL SERVICES.

Anncr: Next, an editorial expressing the policies of the United States Government:

Voice: On September 11th, the United States was savagely attacked by terrorists. The U.S. does not seek revenge. As President George W. Bush said, "We seek justice." And the U.S. will see that justice is done, no matter how long it takes.

Terrorists, like those belonging to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, hate what the U.S. stands for. They are ruthless murderers. The U.S. and its allies went to Afghanistan not as conquerors, but as liberators willing to make sacrifices to defend freedom.

The U.S.-led coalition helped the Afghan people throw the Taleban out of their country. That marked the first phase in the global war against terrorism. Now, said Mr. Bush, "the next message is this: We're going to keep you on the run. If you're a killer, we're going to treat you for what you are, an international criminal with no place to hide, no place to sleep." They will not be allowed to kill innocent people.

The Taleban gave safe haven to terrorists. They are no longer in power. As President Bush said, if you give safe haven to a terrorist, you will be treated as a terrorist. Those who harbor terrorists are just as guilty as terrorists.

Moreover, said President Bush, "We cannot allow nations that have got a history of...dictatorship, a nation, for example, like Iraq that poisoned her own people, to develop a weapon of mass destruction and mate-up with terrorist organizations who hate freedom-loving countries." Iraq plots to develop anthrax, nerve gas, and nuclear weapons. It has been doing so for more than a decade.

Iraq is not alone. North Korea, said Mr. Bush, is a regime "arming with missiles and weapons of mass destruction, while starving its citizens." Another is Iran, ruled by a regime that "aggressively pursues these weapons and exports terror, while an unelected few repress the Iranian people's hope for freedom."

"States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute" what Mr. Bush said is "an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world." The U.S. is committed to seeing that evil does not prevail.

Anncr: That was an editorial expressing the policies of the United States Government. If you have a comment, please write to Editorials, V-O-A, Washington, D-C, 20237, U-S-A. You may also comment at www-dot-ibb-dot-gov-slash-editorials, or fax us at (202) 619-1043.