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CNN Saturday Morning News

`Axis of Evil' Comment is Criticized by Several Countries

Aired February 02, 2002 - 07:14   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now back to the widening war against terrorism. In his State of the Union address, President Bush mentioned that axis of evil, North Korea, Iran, and Iraq. That statement has drawn some criticism from quarters all around the world. Leading defense ministers from all over the world are meeting now in Munich, Germany, and that's where some of that discussion is taking place.

CNN's Jamie McIntyre is there. He joins us live with the latest.

Jamie, hello.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.

This conference is an informal gathering of top defense and security officials as well as some civilian experts and even some journalists, mostly from Europe and the United States but also including government officials from many other nations, including Russia and China, India and Pakistan.

The talk this year is all about the global scourge of terrorism and in particular President Bush's singling out of Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as the axis of terror, countries that need to be watched and will be held accountable for harboring, financing, training, or equipping what they call agents of terror.

That message was underscored by the Pentagon's number two man, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, one of the first speakers here this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL WOLFOWITZ, DEPUTY DEFENSE SECRETARY: What happened on September 11, as terrible as it was, is but a pale shadow of what will happen if terrorists use weapons of mass destruction. Our approach has to aim at prevention and not merely punishment. We are at war. Self-defense requires prevention and sometimes preemption.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCINTYRE: A hint there at a possible preemptive strike elsewhere in the world. America's European allies are being careful not to publicly criticize President Bush, but many are privately concerned about what they see as a new U.S. unilateralism, worried that they will not be consulted and that Europe, and NATO in particular, may be relegated to the sidelines as the U.S. engages in what it calls "flexible coalitions" to prosecute its war against terrorists as it did in Afghanistan.

The U.S. delegation is headed by two prominent senators, John McCain and Joe Lieberman. McCain ratcheted up the rhetoric against Iraq today, pointing to Saddam Hussein's regime as the next to be toppled -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Jamie McIntyre in Munich, thank you very much, sir.

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