It seems President George W. Bush, in his January 29, 2002, State of the Union address was correct in describing Iran, Iraq, and North Korea as an “axis of evil.” President Bush coined the phrase to describe governments believed to be promoting terrorism and seeking weapons of mass destruction. Just over a year after those remarks, there was an international invasion of Iraq to dismantle that despotic regime.

At the time, President Bush received a considerable amount of criticism for the remarks, including from the Chinese government. “The Chinese side does not advocate using this kind of language in international relations,” foreign ministry spokesperson Kong Quan told a news conference in 2002. Of course, now the Chinese government has led in the building of sanctions against North Korea for their latest round of nuclear bomb posturing.

Michael Klare, professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., writing in a February 1, 2002, column, suggested that Bush’s words would crumble under scrutiny. Klare said that we need to ask more accurate questions, like “How real is this threat?” and “Do we really face an ‘axis of evil’?”

Given the latest news in North Korea and Iran, how could it be otherwise? On balance, North Korea and Iran continue to pose the most dangerous threat to human dignity and freedom for its own citizens, and threatens peace around the world. However, with the international rise of socialism and totalitarian regimes, there are several nations whose citizens and neighbors are threatened, as well, but North Korea and Iran are currently leading the pack.

The Associated Press reports that North Korea threatened Wednesday to wipe the United States off the map, as Washington and its allies watched for signs that the regime would launch a series of missiles in the coming days. “If the U.S. imperialists start another war, the army and people of Korea will . . . wipe out the aggressors on the globe once and for all,” the official Korean Central News Agency reported.

Moreover, the world is watching citizens of Iran protest their dissatisfaction with the Iranian presidential election. At least 17 people have been murdered, and who knows how many have been injured by government law enforcement personnel, as Iranians have taken to the streets for justice. The Associated Press now reports that Iran’s supreme leader said Wednesday that the government would not give in to pressure over the disputed presidential election, effectively closing the door to compromise with the opposition.

I wonder what the 2002 critics of President Bush’s phrase think when they watch the YouTube footage of bloodied women in the streets of Tehran or when they read about China and Russia taking the lead in sanctioning North Korea? Perhaps President Bush’s 2002 words were somewhat prophetic.