President George W. Bush declared in his State of the Union address last week that Iran, Iraq and North Korea constitute an “Axis of Evil.” The comments were based on U.S. beliefs that those countries are developing weapons of mass destruction.

It has spurred sharp criticism from home and abroad. Even former Secretary of State for the Clinton administration Madeleine Albright, according to the BBC, said the three nations are very different from each other and called Bush’s comment “a big mistake.” North Korea said the comments are little short of the United States declaring war.

What Bush did in his speech was dangerous. His statements were echoes of Reagan’s “Evil Empire” speeches of the 1980s, harsh rhetoric aimed at our perceived “enemies.” But now is not the time to be flexing our rhetoric muscles, when promises of numerous new fronts in the war on terrorism have been made by Bush.

Bush has ruled out peaceful dialogue with these nations in the future, obviously not learning from the mistakes previous administrations made. When Bill Clinton left office, relations with North Korea were at a never-before-seen, high level. Any hope of peaceful dialogue has now been eradicated.

It is especially arrogant for this nation, with an ungodly nuclear arsenal, to be criticizing nations for allegedly attempting to do the same. In this time when allies are needed for what looks to be a long world-wide war on terrorism, Bush’s harsh militaristic statements are supporting just the opposite.

editorialboard: Andrea Hauser, Tim Paluch, Michelle Kann, Omar Tesdell, Charlie Weaver