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Amidst the cry and hue that emerged from liberal U.S. and European leaders when President George Bush declared Iraq, Iran and North Korea an "Axis of Evil', a few quiet voices tried to be heard. For years, going further back than the Clinton administration, these same voices have been trying to warn the world of the danger that the leaders of these three countries present. And they have also warned us what cynical liars these same leaders are.
As far back as the term of President Eisenhower, the duplicity of North Korea has been well known. Jimmy Carter found the Khomeni regime totally anti-western and especially anti-U.S.. When the Shah was deposed and a radical Islamic Fundamentalist took power, there began a three decade financial and weapons infusion into International Terrorism. And while the U.S. tried to foster a friend in Iraq to offset Iran (a dismal failure obviously), it became quite clear that Iraq too was a danger to the entire world.
And today it continues Non-proliferation analysts around the world have publicly beat the drums for decades, using language like "actively pursing the development and sale of ballistic missile systems" . Or insert "chemical weapons", "biological weapons", or the big hair raiser, "nuclear weapons" and "weapons grade material technology". One can't blame the U.S. Presidents, many went to that sometimes nefariously reluctant well called the U.S. Congress and came back empty handed. Standing tall in all of this are Lugar and Lieberman, having all the rights of "told you so". Not to mention every Secretary of Defense since Jimmy Carter's.
It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure what is going on. MILNET has produced a simplified graphic to illustrate why this "Axis of Evil" is real.
When taking a look at a simplified 
chart
of the weapons flows in and around the axis of evil, it is not hard to
see why some in Congress have felt compelled to cry out for help, and we
suppose it is only natural for others to wilt before the challenge.
The flow of dangerous weapons began during the cold war, the U.S. allies
(or those even a little friendly) received U.S. and European Weapons systems,
the non-allied received Russian or Chinese licensed Soviet arms.
The pre-Gulf War years, especially those following the exit of the Shah of
Iran, were decades where we saw arms buildup in countries opposing Iran
while at the same time that country fostered the Sunni Islamic terrorist
growth. That period also saw the Saudis either unwittingly or purposely
making quiet but extravagant donations to Wahhabi trained Islamic fundamentalists. The
irony is that the Saudi effort may have been centered upon finding ways
to keep young people busy rather than involved in crime -- a strategy that
clearly backfired on them as well as the rest of the world. 9/11 clearly was at least partially if not to a great extent due to the virulent training of Al Qaeda members
received in schools funded by the Saudis.
The U.S. was not innocent in this, having provided arms to Iraq with bio and chemical weapons as well as all other forms of conventional weaponry, thus creating our own little monster in the Middle East. Saddam Hussein is believed to be the only leader to use chemical weapons since World War I (some would argue the Russians have used them in their anti-terrorist activities and many anti-Vietnam war types will argue U.S. used chemical weapons--i.e. agent orange to kill foilage in Vietnam).
Then Iraq turned even uglier and invaded Kuwait. Things changed quickly. The Middle Eastern neighbors, for the first time in the 20th century, had a true menace in their own muslim brotherhood. Whoops. And for the first time, the west and the east bound together to take action.
Post Gulf War was supposed to be much different than today. The lessons of Iraq being pretty clear, U.S. and Europeans as well as the former nations in the Soviet Union clearly seemed to understand that non-proliferation was a problem for everyone.
However, in a few short years, the draw of exchanging Iraqi oil flow for weapons systems and technology grew to be a temptation that could not be fought. Germany, France, and even Russia (who really should have known better) began to export technologies -- very dangerous technologies to the Axis of Evil. In the meantime, China, never one to accept western cautions at face value, continued a half century of arming North Korea. And then while looking for other arms partners, China then chose to help Iraq upgrade its radar and air defense systems. Even Pakistan got into the fray by helping North Korea and quite possibly Iraq with nuclear weapons or material manufacturing programs. It also appears the Ukraine helped the Iraqis update their radar as well.
So as the U.S. waits to see how the new and final inspection regime
works out, military planners are facing a better self defense system in
Iraq than that which they faced in the 1990 Gulf War and this could mean
loss of American pilot's lives.
The Axis of Evil lives on, and irritatingly, so does the trade in weapons
prohibited under the non-proliferation treaty. Sigh.
Sources: