The Evil One
 
Hank Roth:

04/25/03: (PN NEWS) North Korea's justification for developing nuclear 
weapons is the need to defend itself from the cowboys in Washington.  
The Soviet Union was a counterweight to America's imperialism but with 
the counterrevolutionary destruction of the Soviet Union (in 1991-92), 
those constraints no longer exist and George Bush is sabre rattling by 
including North Korea in his "axis of evil" which to North Korea is a 
direct threat for a military invasion of by the U.S.  

George Bush designated THREE rogue states in his first State of the 
Union speech on January 29, 2002. On that day, George Bush declared 
war on North Korea, Iran and Iraq. He has already taken down Iraq. 
North Korea and Iran are next on the list and North Korea is taking 
this threat very seriously.  

The Pentagon's report, "Nuclear Posture Review" completed after 
George Bush's declaration of war against the "axis of evil" targeted 
Iraq, but also China and the others mentioned for a potential NUCLEAR 
FIRST STRIKE.  

North Korea believes it is NEXT after Iraq and pursuant to that report it 
will be the target of a nuclear first strike. AND also pursuant to George 
Bush's declaration and "axis of evil" speech Pyongyang pulled out of the 
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.  

North Korea DEMANDS that Washington resume the suspended shipments of 
fuel oil as a precondition to easing relations. It also wants a clear 
statement renouncing first strike and a declaration of non-aggression.  

This is NOT blackmail. The demands are reasonable given George 
Bush's bellicose threats against North Korea.  

In George Bush's accusatory State of the Union speech, he used the 
term, "axis of evil" five times. Words are important. George Bush is 
either careless or very clear about his intent. For example to said the 
war on terrorism would be a "Crusade" which has only one connotation 
in the Arab/ Muslim world. And he uses the word, "evil" which also has 
specific meaning.  

"Evil in its metaphysical, absolute sense, is a notion so common to the 
fundamentalist, reactionary religious worldview that Bush and bin Laden 
share...George Bush actually stands today at the head of the Protestant 
fundamentalist movement in the United States..." [Gilbert Achcar, 
"The Clash of Barbarisms, 2002 - Monthly Review Press]  

From the Washington Post: "For the first time since religious 
conservatives became a modern political movement, the resident of 
the United States has become the movement's de facto leader---a status 
that even Ronald Reagan, though admired by religious conservatives, 
never earned. Christian publications, radio, and television shower Bush 
with praise, while preachers from the pulpit treat his leadership as AN 
ACT OF PROVIDENCE. A procession of religious leaders who have met 
with him testify to his faith, while websites encourage people to fast 
and pray for the president." [Washington Post, Dana Milband, "Religious 
Right Finds Its Center in Oval Office," Dec 24, 2001]  

There is a great deal of similarity in the worldview of bin Laden and 
George Bush. Similar statements about evil have been made by Osama 
bin Laden and there is no doubt that George Bush feels he is on a kind 
of divine mission to save the world or lead it to Armageddon and 
ultimately the saving of Christians as part of the final judgment. 
The psychopathology of believing he is inspired by god - and the personal 
representative of an omnipotent god is in some societies considered a 
sickness, but when you have the power of the highest position in the 
world's only super-power, that belief is absolutely frightening.  

"`The evil one': Mr. Bush has regularly used this phrase to describe 
Osama bin Laden. Among evangelical Christians, it is an obvious 
reference to Satan, and appears throughout the Bible. (From Matthew, 
in the New American Standard Bible: `When anyone hears the word of 
the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and 
snatches away what has been sown in his heart.")" [Elisabeth Bumiller, 
"Recent Bushisms Call for a Primer" - New York Times, Jan 7, 2002]  

"Mr. Bush was raised an Episcopalian, became a Methodist after his 
marriage, and then in 1986 said he was recommitting his heart to Jesus 
Christ - - a born again experience.... evangelicals recognize the 
terminology of `the evil one' as their own." [Bumiller]  

Hank Roth

                          -==-

Source: Information Clearinghouse ...
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3106.htm


Cheers, Steve..

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