US views in light of policies on Axis of Evil countries
Regional-USA, Politics, 8/18/2005

US Department Of State spokesman, Sean McCormack, was asked yesterday "The U.S. policy on the 'Axis of Evil,' to what extent does the administration consider setbacks recently with the Iraqi constitution, Iran's breakout from the Paris Accords -- Accord rather, and the fact that there was no agreement reached in Beijing so far on North Korea, to what extent does the Administration view these as significant setbacks?"

McCormack said "I think that policymakers -- certainly they are engaged in day-to-day work in these issues.Ê But I think also they take a much broader historical view.Ê And I think that you've heard Secretary Rice talk about the fact that this is a period of great historical changes.Ê We are in a moment of great historical changes in the world.Ê And you cite three particular areas:Ê Iraq, Iran and North Korea.

"I think if you look back in history there -- you could --Ê draw a number of different lessons if you look at, you know, important significant and historical changes a few things really sort of stand out: one, you know, leadership matters, individuals, the right person at the right place, doing the right thing matters.

"I think that if you -- a commitment to principles and a course of action matters.Ê And I think also if you look, these changes take time, they take years.Ê But -- so I say all these things to try to provide a little context to the sort of day-to-day developments that we see in the 24-hour global news cycle.

"But let's take a look at where, you know, where we were four or five years ago with respect to, you know, each of these countries.Ê With Iraq, you had a brutal tyrant in the middle of the -- in the center of the Middle East who retained, we now know, the intent and capability to produce weapons of mass destruction, who was a supporter of terrorism.Ê That no longer is the case.

"With respect to Iran, they were proceeding in development of a nuclear weapon in a covert manner.Ê And in contravention of, we believe, their NPT obligations.Ê And there are very few voices, I think, in the international community speaking out about that issue.

"On North Korea, we had a state that was -- had agreed to freeze its nuclear program and ultimately to give up its nuclear program in exchange for certain obligations.Ê But what we now know is that in contravention of that agreement, they were -- they had a secret nuclear program and that they were proceeding down the pathway of developing nuclear weapons using highly- enriched uranium pathway.Ê So now we have a situation where on Iran we have international unity or broad consensus in the international community that Iran should not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons and we're pursuing a robust diplomatic strategy in concert with our European partners on the issue.

"On North Korea, we have a similar situation where we're working effectively in a multilateral forum that didn't exist prior to President Bush's initiative to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.

"Now, so that's where we are now.Ê That's where we were.Ê That's where we are now.Ê Yes, there are challenges, certainly in Iraq in writing the constitution, in Iran -- with Iran, getting them to give up their nuclear program, and on North Korea to have a denuclearized Korean Peninsula and potentially a different relationship between North Korea and the rest of the world.Ê So there are real challenges that are ahead of us right now.Ê You guys report on them day to day.Ê But I would rather have those challenges in front of me than this sort of kind of quiet malignancy of the previous status quo.

"So again, yes, there are challenges.Ê But I think you have to step back for a second and look where we were historically and understand that this is a process of fundamental, broad, historical change that is ongoing in the world.Ê It takes some time.Ê It takes perseverance.Ê It takes commitment to principle.Ê And I think that that's what you see in the leadership from President Bush as well as Secretary Rice on these issues.

McCormack was asked "To what extent, given the setbacks -- the challenges, as you call them -- is a new course of action required in any of the -- in Iran and North Korea.?" McCormack replied "I think that certainly we have expressed a commitment to the course of action that we have laid out on both of those issues.Ê And like I said, again, there are challenges here, but commitment to principle, perseverance and leadership, you know, we believe are the way to move forward.Ê We believe that given the circumstances that we have now, we have the right policies in place to try to address these issues and we are working very hard with our partners in the international community to see that those policies succeed."

Previous Stories:
  US position as Iran restarts Uranium enrichment   (8/11/2005)
  Iran terms Europe's behavior on Uranium enrichment 'illogical, selfish'   (8/10/2005)
  Iraqis will be 'better off' without Saddam, Powell promises   (4/14/2003)
  Powell says US to help Iraqi people reconstruct their society   (4/11/2003)
  Powell Says Iraq Failing to Meet Mandate of U.N. Resolution   (1/18/2003)
  OIC criticizes Bush's remarks on 'axis of evil' as counterproductive   (2/5/2002)
  The US, Iraq, Iran and North Korea   (2/4/2002)
  Iran says US is the greatest evil   (2/1/2002)

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