The title of this essay is borrowed from the headline of a review of a book by Mark Palmer, Breaking the Real Axis of Evil, the main point of which is that, beyond terrorism as the primary threat to the world, it is dictatorship itself that must be recognized as a crime against humanity. It follows, now that Saddam Hussein is in captivity, that we should move on to other tyrants who are the real causes of most of the miseries that plague mankind. This is not a call for making war on every non-democratic regime, but rather a “how to” guide for adopting diplomatic, economic and other policies that place a high priority on displacing dictatorships with governments of consent. I can imagine that this attitude, not to mention this book, are anathema in many corners of the U. S. Department of State, which prize “stability” and “engagement” over revolution and confrontation.The capture of Saddam ranks with the capture of the world’s great tyrants (which could have included Hitler and should have included Stalin), and only a self-serving fool like Howard Dean could not consider it a positive development for American security. And is it surprising or coincidental that Moammar Gadhafi of Libya chose this moment to throw in the towel? Headlines and a couple of Democratic Presidential candidates proclaimed the success of “isolation”, “sanctions”, and other elements of multi-lateral diplomacy. Who do they think they are kidding? Certainly not Col. Gadhafi. This was purely a function of U. S. and British power and the demonstrated will to use it, and it is a vindication of the Bush Doctrine in the war on terrorism. Now let’s take a page from Palmer’s book, create the office of “Assistant Secretary for Ousting Dictators” in the State Department, and on to Syria, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, etc.
