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The phrase "axis of evil" was first used byU.S. PresidentGeorge W. Bush and originally referred toIran,Ba'athist Iraq, andNorth Korea. It was used in Bush'sState of the Union address on January 29, 2002, less than five months after theSeptember 11 attacks and almost a year before the2003 invasion of Iraq, and often repeated throughouthis presidency. He used it to describe foreign governments that, during his administration, allegedlysponsored terrorism and soughtweapons of mass destruction.[2]
The notion of such an axis was used to pinpoint these common enemies of the United States and to rally the American population in support of theWar on Terror. The countries originally covered by the term wereIran,Ba'athist Iraq, andNorth Korea. In response, Iran formed a political alliance that it called the "Axis of Resistance" comprising Iran,Ba'athist Syria andHezbollah.[3]
Later,China,Russia,Iran andNorth Korea were referred to as the "new axis of evil" by U.S. politicians and commentators. The term "axis of evil" is a reference to theAxis powers ofWWII (Nazi Germany,Fascist Italy, andEmpire of Japan).[4]
The phrase was attributed to former Bush pro-Israel speechwriterDavid Frum, originally as theaxis of hatred and thenevil. Information about his authorship first came out when emails of Frum's wife to friends were picked up by the media.[5] Frum explained his rationale for creating the phraseaxis of evil in his 2003 bookThe Right Man: The Surprise Presidency of George W. Bush.[6] According to Frum, in late December 2001 head speechwriterMichael Gerson gave him the assignment of articulating the case for dislodging the regime ofSaddam Hussein in Iraq in only a few sentences for the upcoming State of the Union address. Frum says he began by rereading PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt's"date which will live in infamy" speech given on December 8, 1941, after theJapanese surpriseattack on Pearl Harbor. While Americans needed no convincing about going to war with Japan, Roosevelt saw the greater threat to the United States coming fromNazi Germany, and he had to make the case for fighting a two-ocean war.
Frum points in his book to a now often-overlooked sentence in Roosevelt's speech which reads in part, "...we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again." Frum interprets Roosevelt's oratory like this: "For FDR, Pearl Harbor was not only an attack—it was a warning of future and worse attacks from another, even more dangerous enemy." Japan, a country with one-tenth of America's industrial capacity, a dependence on imports for its food, and already engaged in a war withChina, was extremely reckless to attack the United States, a recklessness "that made the Axis such a menace to world peace", Frum says. Saddam Hussein's two wars, against Iran and Kuwait, were just as reckless, Frum decided, and therefore presented the same threat to world peace.
In his book Frum relates that the more he compared theAxis powers of World War II to modern "terror states", the more similarities he saw. "The Axis powers disliked and distrusted one another", Frum writes. "Had the Axis somehow won the war, its members would quickly have turned on one another." Iran, Iraq,al-Qaeda, andHezbollah, despite quarreling among themselves, "all resented power of the West andIsrael, and they all despised the humane values of democracy." There, Frum saw the connection: "Together, the terror states and the terror organizations formed an axis of hatred against the United States."
Frum tells that he then sent off a memo with the above arguments and also cited some of the atrocities perpetrated by the Iraqi government. He expected his words to be chopped apart and altered beyond recognition, as is the fate of much presidential speechwriting, but his words were ultimately read by Bush nearly verbatim, though Bush changed the termaxis of hatred toaxis of evil. North Korea was added to the list, he says, because it was attempting to develop nuclear weapons, had a history of reckless aggression, and "needed to feel a stronger hand".[7]
A decade before the 2002 State of the Union address, in August 1992, the Israeli-American political scientistYossef Bodansky wrote a paper entitled "Tehran,Baghdad &Damascus: The New Axis Pact"[8] while serving as the Director of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare of theUS House of Representatives.[9] Although he did not explicitly apply the epithetevil to his New Axis, Bodansky's axis was otherwise very reminiscent of Frum's axis. Bodansky felt that this new Axis was a very dangerous development. The gist of Bodansky's argument was that Iran, Iraq and Syria had formed a "tripartite alliance" in the wake of theFirst Gulf War, and that this alliance posed an imminent threat that could only be dealt with by invading Iraq a second time and overthrowingSaddam Hussein.
In his2002 State of the Union Address, Bush calledNorth Korea "A regime arming with missiles and weapons of mass destruction, while starving its citizens."[10] He also statedIran "aggressively pursues these weapons and exports terror, while an unelected few repress the Iranian people's hope for freedom."[10] Bush gave the most criticism toIraq,[10] stating "Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror. The Iraqi regime has plotted to developanthrax andnerve gas and nuclear weapons for over a decade. This is a regime that hasalready used poison gas to murder thousands of its own citizens, leaving the bodies of mothers huddled over their dead children. This is a regime that agreed to international inspections, then kicked out the inspectors. This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world."[10] Afterwards, Bush said, "States like these and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world."[10]
On May 6, 2002, then-Undersecretary of StateJohn Bolton gave a speech entitled "Beyond the Axis of Evil". In it he added three more nations to be grouped with the already mentionedrogue states:Cuba,Libya, andSyria.[11] The criteria for inclusion in this grouping were: "state sponsors of terrorism that are pursuing or who have the potential to pursueweapons of mass destruction (WMD) or have the capability to do so in violation of their treaty obligations."[12]
In 2024, NATO Secretary GeneralJens Stoltenberg and his predecessor,Anders Fogh Rasmussen, cautioned about the formation of a new axis of autocracies led byChina, but joined by Russia,Iran andNorth Korea.[13][14] The same states have been recognized as a new axis of evil by several American politicians, includingChristopher Cavoli,[15]Mike Johnson,[16] andMitch McConnell.[17]
Iran and Iraq fought the longIran–Iraq War in the 1980s under basically the same leadership as that which existed at the time of Bush's speech, leading some to believe that the linking of the nations under the same banner was misguided. Others argued that each of the three nations in the "axis of evil" had some special characteristics which were obscured by grouping them together.Anne Applebaum wrote about the debate over North Korea's inclusion in the group.[18]
In the days after theSeptember 11 attacks,Ryan Crocker — who would later become theUnited States ambassador to Iraq from 2007 to 2009 — and other senior U.S. State Department officials flew toGeneva to meet secretly with representatives of the government of Iran. For several months, Crocker and his Iranian counterparts cooperated on capturingAl Qaeda operatives in the region and fighting theTaliban government in Afghanistan. These meetings stopped after the "Axis of Evil" speech hardened Iranian attitudes toward cooperating with the U.S.[19]
Also, immediately after the attacks, the Iranian PresidentMohammad Khatami—in a message to the American people—showed sympathy with the victims[20] and the Iranian people took to mosques and streets to pray and show their condolences.[21]
None of the terrorists involved in 9/11 were citizens of the three nations Bush cited.[2]
In January 2006, Israeli Defense MinisterShaul Mofaz implicated "the axis of terror that operates between Iran and Syria" following a suicide bomb inTel Aviv.[22]
In April 2006 the phraseaxis of terror earned more publicity. Israel's UN Ambassador,Dan Gillerman, cautioned of a newaxis of terror—Iran, Syria and theHamas-run Palestinian government; Gillerman repeated the term before the UN over the crisis in Lebanon.[23] Some three months later Israeli senior foreign ministry official Gideon Meir branded the alleged alliance anaxis of terror and hate.[24]
In 2006,Isaias Afewerki, the president ofEritrea, had declared in response to the deteriorating relations with the neighboring countries ofEthiopia,Sudan andYemen by accusing them of being an "Axis of Belligerence."[25]
In 2006, the formerpresident of Venezuela,Hugo Chávez, described the so-calledNew Latin Left as an "axis of good" which comprisedBolivia,Chile,Cuba,Ecuador,Nicaragua,Uruguay andVenezuela but described "Washington and its allies" as an "axis of evil".[26]
In 2007, the commander of Iran'sIslamic Revolutionary Guard Corps declared that the United States, the United Kingdom and Israel were part of an "axis of evil" alleging mass violence against the Islamic world, crimes against humanity and attempting to divideShi'ites andSunnis.[27]
In 2008,The Economist featured an article about the "Axis of Diesel" in reference to a burgeoning alliance of Iran, Russia, and Venezuela. They cite the billions of dollars in arms sales to Venezuela and the construction of Iranian nuclear facilities as well as the rejection of added sanctions on Iran. They did conclude that the benefits of the arrangement were exaggerated, however.[28]
From 2010 onward, the term "Axis of Resistance" has been used to describe ananti-Western andanti-Israeli[29]alliance betweenIran,Syria,Hezbollah,Iraqi Shia militias, and theHouthis.[30][31]
In 2012, authorWilliam C. Martel, in a short essay forThe Diplomat, wrote of an "Authoritarian Axis", comprisingChina,Russia,Iran,North Korea,Syria, andVenezuela.[32] Following the death of Venezuela's Hugo Chávez in 2013, Martel removed Venezuela from the assigned list of countries, in his subsequent writings about the "axis". Martel's thesis drew criticism fromThe American Conservative andMuslim Village, with the main arguments cited in opposition to his idea being the lack of cohesion and generally low levels of cooperation shown between the cited countries.[33][34][35]
Severalenvironmentalnon-governmental organizations, includingGreenpeace[36] and theGreen Party of Canada,[37] have dubbed Australia, Canada and United States, the "Axis of Environmental Evil" because of their lack of support for international environmental agreements, particularly those related toclimate change.[38][39]
During a March 2018 interview with the Egyptian media,Saudi Crown PrinceMohammad bin Salman referredIran,Turkey and Islamist organizations such as theIslamic State and theMuslim Brotherhood as the "triangle of evil", to describe their current policies in the Middle East.[40] Those remarks were later dismissed by Iran, describing it as "childish" and said that Saudi Arabia's intervention in Yemen has "caused instability and extremism and stuck in a quagmire" in Yemen.[41]
In October 2018, the economistPaul Krugman argued "[t]here's a new axis of evil: Russia, Saudi Arabia—and the United States", the three countries that declined to endorse the United Nation's latest climate study at the2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference.[42]
In February 2022, American conservative political commentatorDanielle Pletka calledChina,Russia,Iran, andNorth Korea as the "new" axis of evil in an article for theNational Review.[43] Following the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, theTaipei Times published aneditorial calling thealliance between the Russia and China "the real axis of evil".[44]
In October 2023, Senate Republican LeaderMitch McConnell told CBS' "Face The Nation" that Iran, North Korea, Russia, and China are the new "axis of evil.[45][46] The Speaker of the House,Mike Johnson echoed a very similar comment onFox News' "Hannity".[47]
In October 2023,Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu described an axis of evil involvingHamas andIran in an op-ed inThe Wall Street Journal.[48]
On April 17, 2024,GOP U.S.speaker of the houseMike Johnson referred to China as part of "the axis of evil" that includes Iran, and Russia. Johnson based his statement on the belief that the countries pose threats the western-aligned countries of Taiwan, Israel, and Ukraine. This preceded a change of tact, where the speaker decided to support $95 billion of defence aid for the combined countries, despite the opposition of the more conservative members of his caucus.[49][50]
In July 2024, British Army GeneralSir Patrick Sanders said that Russia, China and Iran were the "new axis powers" in an interview withThe Times.[51] He argued they posed more of a threat thanNazi Germany in 1939, stating "They are more interdependent and more aligned than the original axis powers were" and that the world is facing "as dangerous a moment as any time that we've had since 1945".[52] On July 23, newly appointed Army chief GeneralSir Roland Walker said in a speech that the UK faced danger from an "axis of upheaval" with threats from an angered Russia, that China was intent on retaking Taiwan, and that Iran was likely to pursue nuclear weapons.[53]
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Various relatedpun phrases include:
The term has also lent itself to various parodies, including the following:
In response to the problems whichAmericans of Middle-Eastern descent have in the current climate, a group of comedians have banded together to form theAxis of Evil Comedy Tour. The comedians,Ahmed Ahmed (from Egypt),Maz Jobrani (from Iran), andAron Kader (whose father isPalestinian), have created a show which aired onComedy Central. They have also included half-Palestinian, half-ItalianDean Obeidallah in some of their acts.
The group took the comedy tour around theMiddle East (November–December 2007), performing in the UAE, Egypt, Kuwait, Jordan, and Lebanon to sell-out crowds.[65]
In 2003 the Norwegian record labelKirkelig Kulturverksted published the CDLullabies from the Axis of Evil containing 14 lullabies from Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Palestine, Syria, Afghanistan and Cuba. Every lullaby is presented in its original form sung by women from these countries, and then a western version with interpretations in English.[66]
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