Connecting the Dots - Israel to Iraq to Iran to North Korea to China and back again

I was surfing around for some intersting links and came across this text of a Governor GW Bush speach given to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee Conference at the Washington Hilton Hotel, Washington, D.C., May 22, 2000. Note, this speach was given as he was on the campaign trail to win (no I mean steal...no I mean outflank... no I mean honestly...no I mean...) Well, I am having a hard time to decide what to call the 2000 election other than a farce to democracy.

...anyway, just before GWBush had his friends in his Father's Supreme Court appoint him to the presidence, long before 11 Sept, and long before the War against terror, he was pointing fingers at potential targets and pre-justifying any actions that he might take with very hazy accusations.

Take a look for yourself - Slice:

"...What struck me, as you all know better than I, is the tiny distance between enemy lines and Israel's population centers. The general said that before the Six-Day War, Israel as only nine miles wide at its narrowest point. In Texas, some of our driveways are longer than that.

It's sobering to think that while the distance between Dallas and Galveston is 270 miles, the distance between Israel and Saddam Hussein's Iraq is only 250 miles. And the world learned to its horror, back in 1991, that those 250 miles can be crossed in a matter of 12 minutes by a Scud missile. The Gulf War showed the world the danger posed to the family of democracy by rogue states armed with missiles. Who could forget the sight of millions of Israelis wearing gas masks to protect themselves in case those Scuds were carrying chemical weapons? And who could forget the Israeli children who had to be sealed away from their mothers and fathers in plastic tents during those air raids? Saddam's attacks were the act of a tyrant without decency.

And we are seeing similar hostility again today, as 13 Jews are unjustly imprisoned in Iran on charges of espionage. Even in this new century, the ancient wrong of anti-Semitism remains. While the 13 remain in prison, their human rights must be respected. The leaders of Iran should know that America would judge them by their conduct and treatment of these 13...

...This is something else the family of democracy has in common; the danger of totalitarianism is waning, but the threat from rogue states is rising. The danger crosses borders and oceans. And it means not only Israel, but also that the United States must be able to protect our citizens and our homeland with ballistic missile defenses.

North Korea has developed missiles capable of hitting Hawaii and Alaska. That nation may be an ideological relic, but its tyrants are doing everything they can to be a 21st century menace. Nations like Iran and Iraq are developing capabilities of their own. And four years ago, a Chinese general warned America that his country possesses the means to incinerate Los Angeles with nuclear weapons..."

End Slice:

Again, as the president has shown us time after time, he uses his rapier wit to deflect the gravity of a very serious situation and then makes vague and veiled threats and accusations.

We should not have been surprised at all by his Axis of Evil speaches.

Lastly, just becuase you can connect the dots on a map does not mean that there is a connection or causal relationship among and between various States. Bunching countries together as an axis of evil is a smart tactic to politically frame them negatively and depersonalize the people that comprise them. The Marines do this to depersonify the enemy to make it easier to justify killing a human being. We did it to the Japanese when we bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Only time will tell if our governmental leaders do it again in places like Iran, North Korea and the like.