[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 23 (Wednesday, March 6, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H689-H690]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            THE AXIS OF EVIL

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

[[Page H690]]

  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, when the leader of the free world came to 
this Chamber in January to deliver his State of the Union address, he 
described the axis of evil governments. He mentioned them by name: 
Iran, Iraq and North Korea.
  Since then, some people have criticized the speech. In fact, one of 
President Bush's predecessors said the speech was ``over simplistic'' 
and ``counterproductive.''
  Mr. Speaker, the Government of Iran spends millions of dollars 
financing the murder of innocent civilians and violence in the Middle 
East. The Government of Iraq has used chemical weapons to kill its own 
citizens and has invaded its neighbors. North Korea is the only country 
I know of today that has concentration camps where people enter and 
never come home from. They literally starve their citizens.
  If that is not evil, I do not know what is. Years ago another 
President referred to the Soviet Union as an evil empire, and some of 
us remember the Soviet refusenik Natan Sharansky. He was in a gulag 
when President Reagan gave that speech. Mr. Sharansky told me, when I 
met him, that news of that speech spread like wildfire through the 
Soviet gulags. Not until then did they realize that a leader in the 
West understood the nature of communism.

                          ____________________