Newt Gingrich gave a very interesting speech at the AEI on Thursday. At one point he referred to President Bush’s “Axis of Evil” containing of Iraq, Iran and North Korea. While the first one is not evil any more, the latter ones have not been attacked yet, which seems to bother Gingrich. It is rumored, that he plans to run for president in 2012, so he must get his name out there, which seems to work pretty well for him so far.

But take a look at the “Axis of Evil” part of his speech for yourself (from Think Progress).

Alright, so he wants the two remaining countries to be attacked by the United States as well. That does not sound very reasonable in the current situation, take a look at Afghanistan, but why does he try to justify this with Roosevelt’s decision to take on Japan and Nazi Germany? While Hitler oppressed most of Europe at that time, the Japanese occupied most of Southeast Asia, not to mention the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The situation in ’41 had nothing in common with the current problem of Iran and North Korea striving towards nuclear weapons. It is undeniable, that something has to be done about this, but not like this and not by justifying the need for action with this completely unrelated situation 70 years ago. Keep in mind, that these countries were already at war, whereas Iran is at peace with its neighbors and North Korea has a ceasefire with the South since 1953.