WASHINGTON -- In his first formal State of the Union address, President George W. Bush portrayed the terrorism threat in stark detail, disclosing that American forces in Afghanistan have found diagrams of U.S. nuclear power plants and suggested that "tens of thousands of trained terrorists are still at large." His most expansive moment came when he suggested that the rogue nations of North Korea, Iraq and Iran represent "an axis of evil," and that they are attempting to develop nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.
The full import of his heavy rhetoric in foreign policy has been the subject of serious analysis, here and abroad. What does he mean when he suggests that he will not "stand by as peril draws closer and closer"? How will the United States thwart threats from "the world's most dangerous regimes with the world's most destructive weapons"?
What remedial action will Bush take against Iran, Iraq and North Korea? What international support will he require, or what international forum will he seek to use to support his actions?