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Guest Commentary June 1, 2002
The Sponsors of Terror
The Honorable Jon Kyl
Seven dictatorships continue to sponsor terrorism, posing a threat to innocent people around the world. So states the latest edition of the "Patterns of Global Terrorism" report, issued by the U.S. Department of State.
The 2001 report underscores the severity of the terrorist threat. It also demonstrates that a key aspect of the U.S. war against terrorism must be to confront the states that harbor and support it.
Not everyone seems to agree on what exactly our approach to terror-sponsoring nations should be -- and that is troubling. A small but significant chorus in Congress -- echoing some of our European allies -- continues to suggest that we try to compromise with or make a better effort to "understand" dictatorships that sponsor terror. They are loath to hold these regimes accountable for the terrorism they support or to demand changes from them.
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Recall the outcry, for example, when President Bush first said the brutal dictatorships of North Korea, Iran and Iraq constitute an "axis of evil" that poses a threat to the world. The clamor in Europe was loud; the French Foreign Minister promptly denounced the U.S. war against terrorism as "simplistic." Here at home, the Senate Majority Leader said Bush was "wrong" to use that phrase, adding: "I think we've got to be careful with rhetoric of that kind."
Yet Iran, Iraq, and North Korea all appear on the State Department's latest terrorist-sponsor list (along with Cuba, Sudan, Libya and Syria). Iran, in fact, was branded the leading sponsor of terrorism around the world in 2001, for actions that included arming and sheltering terrorists and likening Israel to a "cancerous tumor" that must be removed.
Iraq has continued to crack down on internal opponents to Saddam Hussein's oppressive rule, slaughtering or imprisoning political dissidents and minorities. Saddam's intensive and continuing efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction -- chemical, biological, and nuclear -- are well-known.
North Korea's Stalinist regime is just as bad. It harbors terrorists, is continuing to work to develop weapons of mass destruction, and is a leading arms supplier to rogue regimes.
Clearly, President Bush's characterization is fully vindicated by this report. These nations have done nothing in the past year to justify any other label but "evil." ...
Our message, in short, should be exactly what President Bush said in his address to Congress after the 9/11 attacks: "Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime."
The President's critics are correct in acknowledging an element of "simplicity" in this new policy. It is the simplicity of recognizing the existence of good and evil, and taking steps to see that the latter is defeated.
Jon Kyl, a Republican, is a U.S. Senator from Arizona. The above commentary has been adapted from a weekly column Sen. Kyl issued, May 24, 2002. To contact him, Click Here.
The above column has been distributed by PoliticsOL.com.
