by Allen Alberson

Created on: July 01, 2009

North Korea and Iran, along with Iraq, were singled out as America's greatest threats by then President George W. Bush. They were grouped together under the moniker axis of evil in 2002. All three countries were believed to be fostering terrorism and in the process of developing weapons of mass destruction.

Iraq suspected by the American government of having secret weapons sites. The US military launched an invasion of Iraq just a few months after it's inclusion in the "axis." American forces never found any evidence of nuclear weapons or any other WMDs. This left the other two countries as areas of concern. Many people publicly wondered if America had picked the right enemy to attack.

Iran has a nuclear program but they insist that it is for non military purposes. Although there have been doubts about their sincerity, no hard evidence exists that they are near to developing nuclear weapons. North Korea is also known to have reactors however they seem to both deny nuclear weapons, while at the same time threatening to use them on their enemies. While Iraq is still in large part under American influence, if not outright control, the other two nations still harbor deep animosity with the United States. Both pose potential threats to American safety, but which one is the greater threat? Which should be our main theater of concern?

Many might think that Iran would be the greater threat. They are an Islamic country and the government publicly denies Israel's right to exist. There have been veiled threats against the United States and it is almost certain they support resistance groups inside Iraq. Relations with the United States have been cold at best since the Islamic revolution of 1979. Our support of Iraq in the Iran/Iraq war did nothing to better the relationship. Among many people there is an idea that the war on terror is a war between Islam and Christianity and this would seem to proclaim Iran as the greatest threat. This is an over simplification of the facts however. The Islamic world , just like the Western world is split into moderate and conservative factions. Iran has both factions within its borders.

While Iran is an Islamic government effectively ruled by the clerics, the people in general are more moderate than those of many other Middle eastern nations. At one point relations were close but the American government, as so often wit does, backed an unpopular leader for our own reasons. The US government helped place the Shah Mohammad

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