Did previous presidents speak of the axis of evil?

He ran on fear during the 2004 election, it is his thing.

I would say Bush was gearing up for an attack for a long time, getting Israel to do the initial bombing with US support. That is why Bush was using exactly the same rhetoric about iran as he used earlier about Iraq. The lies about WMDs and how they are a dangerous enemy. The american public bought it once, so why not try again?

As Bush said, fool me once, etc, (but he even mangled that quotation up).

I notice even from the responses here that Bush succeeded in some ways with his aim of creating fear in the american public.

However the facts are these:

Iran does not have any nuclear weapons, and is a few years away from developing them.

Iran has to arm itself to protect istelf from the US and Israel, which have made direct threats against Iran.

Iran did not threaten Isreal. That is a deliberate american misquote, even repeated by McCain before the last election. The Iranian leader sadi that history would see the demise of Israel.. Not Iran, but history.

Iran has no interest in attacking anybody, because it has the oil, a comfortable economy, a great standard of education and high standard of living among the middle class.

Many Iranians must look at westerners as crazy warmongering christians who are intent on taking over the world and destroying islam.

Let us hope that Obama has the sense and foresight to work towards peace and cooperation with the restof the world. We will all live longer, safer lives if he does.

The "Axis of Evil" is just one more way to justify our current enemy. Our politicians were pretty friendly with Saddam, even giving him weapons (it's thought he may have been a CIA asset), then suddenly he was an evil thug. Well, the truth is, he always an evil thug.

Now that Saddam has been removed, the next target is the government of Iran. I have no sympathy for the government or Iran, but the fact is, Iran hasn't attacked us. When North Korea seized the USS Pueblo (they still have it), what did our politicians do? When the Soviet Union shot down a South Korean airliner with a US Congressman on it (Rep Larry McDonald), what was the response?

You can never believe anything that comes out of the mouth of a politician. Their actions are not for out benefit, you can be assured of that. There is a lot of money to be made in waging war against Iran. There is oil to steal (and not for us, it's for the big oil companies), and most important of all, another government hostile to the agenda of the globalist bites the dust.

That's my take on the current situation with Iran. I predict Syria will be next.

Sure the Axis ws Germany, Italy, Japan, etc. This whole administration was a formula by Adolph Hitler and his Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbles. Now the ministry of Propaganda has been replaced by FOX5, Blietzkrieg/shock&awe; Fatherland security/Homeland security; occupation/surge; false flag/9-11; SS/Blackwater; Christians/Christians. Do these bums look like they would know what to do with a thought if they tripped over one.

It's a good idea for the government to keep it's citizens terrified of some outside force. So long as this can be managed then the citizens will view the government as their protector and not their lord. The citizens will pay little attention to the government and actually excuse it for the majority of wrong doing they know of so long as they are convinced that the government is all that stands between them and destruction by some hostile outside entity.

If there is no bogyman to threaten the citizens of a nation then they begin to realize that their government could be one.

The truth is that the greatest threat to the freedom and liberty of a citizen is usually his or her government. The threat becomes a promise when the government is unchecked by the people.

How many of us have read our constitution as carefully as we read reports of terrorism.

Bush Sr

Reagan

This lost nukes is kind of weird because the stores and plots of some recent books and such blame the Russians for losing nukes. However fictitious, there's always someone else to blame in the popular media and movies.

~~I think George W. coined the phrase 'axis of evil"

I agree we have been brainwashed (mostly with fear) for years now for the government to have their way.

My one hope is President Obama will stop this practice. He seems sincere in wanting all information available to our citizens. I do not believe he will stand for the deceit we have been dealt for so long.

I hope I am not wrong, but with all I have read and heard from President Obama, he believes wars should be the very last resort. I believe him and trust him to lead with these rules.~~

Not an "Axis of Evil", but President Reagan called the Soviet Union the Evil Empire. Maybe we just need an arch enemy to exist.

Reagan often spoke of the axis of evil. It's a catchphrase that is meant to dehumanize people whose governments we consider hostile. Putting things in comic book form seems to resonate with lots of Americans. Bush was proof of that.

Yeah, all presidents had to have a big enemy to blame their incompetence on.

it took a lot more than George 'Dubya' to cook up this scheme. You should read the stuff on the PNAC web site. Its completely hideous:

http://www.newamericancentury.org/

Its the definition of neo-conservative (people that lie and tell you theyre conservative, but do just the opposite. Sort of the definition of George W Spendaholic Bush)

I'm not sure, but I think the whole axis of evil thing actually came from Iran. They were constantly referring to us as the evil Satan and her allies and so GWB just turned the whole thing on them.