* Our goal is to prevent regimes that sponsor terror from threatening America or our friends and allies with weapons of mass destruction. Some of these regimes have been pretty quiet since September 11, but we know their true nature. North Korea is a regime arming with missiles and weapons of mass destruction, while starving its citizens. * Iran aggressively pursues these weapons and exports terror, while an unelected few repress the Iranian people's hope for freedom. * Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror. The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax and nerve gas and nuclear weapons for over a decade.
States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. The price of indifference would be catastrophic. We can't stop short. History has called America and our allies to action, and it is both our responsibility and our privilege to fight freedom's fight. Source: State of the Union speech to joint session of Congress Jan 29, 2002