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Bush Under Domestic & International Fire For “Axis Of Evil” Remarks
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| Albright: “The world now thinks the U.S. has lost its mind” |
IOL correspondent in Pakistan
WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - In a rare display of dissent in Washington, the secretary of state under former U.S. president Bill Clinton, Madeleine Albright, criticized Bush for designating Iran, Iraq and North Korea as an "axis of evil."
She said many in the international community now believed the United States had "lost our mind."
Undaunted by the criticism, Bush reiterated charges that the three nations were proliferating weapons of mass destruction and represented a danger to world peace.
Bush insisted "all options are on the table" in dealing with the three countries to make "the United States and our allies more secure."
"All the three countries I mentioned are now on notice that we intend to take their development of weapons of mass destruction very seriously," Bush said as he welcomed Jordan's King Abdullah II to the White House.
Bush's belligerent comments sparked sharp reactions from Tehran, Baghdad and Pyongyang and some adverse comments from Russia and China as well as the Middle East.
Albright's charges constituted the first criticism from a former U.S. cabinet member.
Appearing on NBC television's "Today" show Friday, Albright said the "axis of evil" comment was wrong, and risked alienating U.S. allies and undermining U.S. standing in the world.
Albright, who made a historic visit to Pyongyang in 2000 and met with reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, was most critical of Bush's decision to include North Korea on his list.
Meanwhile, Saudi newspapers strongly lashed out Saturday at Bush saying that the United States was only interested in controlling the whole world.
Now it appears that the "super power is alone taking decisions to put the whole world under its mandate," Saudi Newspaper Al Riyadh stated in an editorial commenting from the kingdom on Thursday's speech.
"President Bush is (behaving) arbitrarily to impose American domination on the world," the paper said and reminded Americans how Communists, Nazis, fascists and other "small dictatorships" collapsed and perished when they tried to do the same.
"America is a super empire that has imposed its behavior, food and its jeans on the world. But it lacks the wisdom that makes it see differences between peoples and nations," the semi-official paper added.
"Reading again the history of how empires emerged and then perished" is what the decision-makers at the White House need to do now, the newspaper said.
Another daily, Al-Watan newspaper said President Bush and other U.S. officials have magnified the dangers of terrorism and been "beating the drums of war" as part of a "blind desire for vengeance."
It said the Americans should seek better options through "positive cooperation with their many friends and allies in the world ... unless the cartels of oil and arms manufacturers ... have become the top decision-makers in the Bush Administration."
Okaz daily said the United States appears on a collision course with a majority of the world's countries and warned of the serious consequences from such a policy.
"As friends of America we feel obliged to say that this policy will only create more enemies than friends, and (in the end) all will be losers," the paper said.
In another development, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has made his first public appearance in three weeks with a visit to a military unit after US President George W. Bush branded his communist state part of an "axis of evil."
Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted Kim saying "no force on earth can overpower these great forces firmly determined not to allow any aggressors to dare invade the inviolable territory of our country but wipe them out to the last one at the risk of their lives."
In a separate dispatch on Saturday, KCNA said North Korea was "fully capable of fighting a war with the United States."
"The United States should not misjudge the inexhaustible military strength of the DPRK (North Korea)," it said.
KCNA said North Korea had fully equipped itself with powerful offensive and defensive means, "tightening its belt over the past years."
"It should clearly know that the option to 'strike' is not its monopoly.... If the U.S. ignites a war of aggression at last, the army and people of the DPRK will mercilessly wipe out the aggressors," it said.
"We are sharply watching the ill-boding moves of the U.S., in full readiness," it said.
Pyongyang on Friday condemned what it called the "moral leprosy" of Bush and said it was powerfully equipped for any conflict, saying Bush's State of the Union speech was "little short of declaring a war."
On Friday, The Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said that he had seen no evidence supporting U. S President George W. Bush's charges of weapons proliferation against so-called "axis of evil" powers Iran, Iraq and North Korea.
"So far we don't have evidence of this," Kasyanov said following a White House meeting with Vice President Dick Cheney.
He said Moscow was behind efforts to strengthen cooperation with the United States in the interests of world security but suggested the two countries also work together "in verifying different potential dangers if any would come."
Kassyanov, asked directly whether Iran, Iraq and North Korea constituted a threat to world peace, said "that is what we would have to verify."
The prime minister, who travels to New York to take part in the World Economic Forum over the weekend, returns to Washington next week for a meeting with Bush.
On Thursday, he and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell signed documents expanding an existing legal cooperation pact enhancing their ability to combat terrorism, drugs, human trafficking and cyber crime.
Meanwhile, Nato's Secretary-General Lord Robertson has warned the U.S. it will have to provide evidence to justify any action against Iran, Iraq and North Korea, reported BBC’s online news service.
Nato gave the U.S. its full support following the 11 September attacks, invoking Article Five of its founding treaty for the first time, which says an attack on one member is an attack on all.
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