It is no longer the State of the Union speech. Instead it is the “axis of evil” speech, and liberals and moral relativists can hardly contain their disdain.

“It’s an oversimplification,” they complain. “This speech is making diplomacy much more difficult,” they grumble. “We shouldn’t threaten countries unless there is a direct link to Sept. 11,” they contend.

They are also dangerously wrong.

Late last month the Washington Post ran a fascinating series about President Bush’s activities and decisions from Sept. 11 through Sept. 20, when he addressed a joint session of Congress. One point the president raised again and again is that while it was important to apprehend those responsible for Sept. 11, the focus must be on preventing another attack of a similar or even greater scale, either by terrorism or by weapons of mass destruction (or a combination of both). It is this change in policy that is missed by critics of more widespread military action.

Critics often contend that you can never stop a terrorist. After all, the murderers who perpetrated the terrorist attack of Sept. 11 were suicidal maniacs who seemingly accomplished their mission with ease.

But these critics miss the important link between the development of the idea to attack and the actual attack. In the case of Sept. 11, that link was the training grounds of Afghanistan, paid for by the money of terrorism-supporting states.

That is why the president demanded the Taliban “close immediately and permanently every terrorist training camp in Afghanistan, and hand over every terrorist, and every person in their support structure, to appropriate authorities . . . [and] give the United States full access to terrorist training camps so we can make sure they are no longer operating.”

The Taliban was responsible for the terrorists within the borders of Afghanistan, and because they chose to not address the problem, the U.S. military addressed it for them. Clearly it was in our national interest, and for that matter, the world’s interest.

So what does this have to do with the axis of evil? The answer has to do with modern political geography and the philosophy of deterrence.

At this point in human history, there is no land that is not controlled by one of 191 nation-states. Wherever terrorists may go, there is a nation-state that will be accountable for their presence, just as Afghanistan was responsible for the presence of al Qaeda. So while we may not be able to stop terrorists from developing dangerous plans, the key to preventing another attack like Sept. 11 is to ensure no country will give those terrorists the camps, funds and time necessary to execute those plans.

The first step in ensuring such behavior was the decimation of the Taliban. Since they continued to harbor terrorists, they were treated no differently than those terrorists. Any country that would follow the lead of the Taliban will now think twice before they too provide harbor.

But deterrence is not complete until there is no country willing to shelter terrorists. Iraq and Iran are, and that is why they are part of the axis. Equally dangerous is the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, which is why North Korea (and Iraq again) is on the list. Neither country will allow U.N. inspections of arms programs, and they continue to pursue and export ballistic missile technology.

All three countries have been put on notice that their behavior is ensuring the continuation of terrorism and threatening world peace, and just like the al Qaeda in Afghanistan, such a scenario is against both our interest and the world’s interest. If they do not address the problem — open up to U.N. weapons inspections and cease sponsoring terrorism — then we will address it for them (in reality, Iraq may be the only one to require military intervention, as revolutionary movements are stirring in Iran and North Korea will soon starve itself).

This is the most realistic path to a peaceful world without terror, but for it to work, the United States must follow through. Appeasement or half-baked actions will only make the situation worse, as we saw when the United States failed to respond to the first WTC bombing, weakly lobbed cruise missiles after the embassy bombings, and did nothing after the U.S.S. Cole was attacked. Such actions encourage, not deter.

Terrorism is evil — we learned that all too clearly on Sept. 11. Countries that allow it to continue are just as evil and must either change or follow a path no different than the first axis to threaten the world.

Benjamin Thompson ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in political science.