January 29, 2002. The President of the United States speaks in his State of the Union Address:
Our second goal is to prevent regimes (terrorist) that sponsor terror from threatening America or our friends and allies with weapons of mass destruction. Some of these regimes have been pretty quiet since September the 11th. But we know their true nature.
North Korea is a regime arming with missiles and weapons of mass destruction, while starving its citizens. Iran aggressively pursues these weapons and exports terror, while an unelected few repress the Iranian people's hope for freedom. Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror. The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax, and nerve gas, and nuclear weapons for over a decade. This is a regime that has already used poison gas to murder thousands of its own citizens—leaving the bodies of mothers huddled over their dead children. This is a regime that agreed to international inspections—then kicked out the inspectors. This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world. States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger. They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred. They could attack our allies or attempt to blackmail the United States. In any of these cases, the price of indifference would be catastrophic.
The next morning, I started to freak out.
Democrats in Washington started to freak out.
Liberals in the United States of American started to freak out.
People who love peace in Canada and Mexico started to freak out.
Peace loving Europeans started to freak out.
People in African started to freak out.
Palestinians started to freak out.
Muslim people started to freak out.
Many countries started to freak out.
North Korea started to freak out and built a nuclear weapon.
IRAQ started to freak out.
IRAN started to freak out and research nuclear weapons.
RUSSIA was freaking out about the missile defense system and wanted to install missile on their European borders.
VENEZUELA and Chavez were freaking out...
EVERYBODY WAS FREAKING OUT !!!!!!!!!!!
But, Al Qaeda was happy about people freaking out.
Then Obama came: WOULD YOU PLEASE STOP FREAKING OUT!!!!!
We want peace. We want no war. We want freedom, opportunity and democracy. America is your friend, not an enemy. STOP FREAKING OUT.
- Russia has agreed to hold non-proliferation summit with the US.
- Iran has been invited on the discussions table.
- Pakistan has agreed to help US combat terrorism.
- Cuba has been invited back in the world community.
- More and more to come...
A lesson:
Words matter. The words of a president even matter more. If it wasn't for that Axis of Evil speech, may be there would have been greater resistance to go into the IRAQ war.
If we are to believe... "God created the earth by just speaking". Words are more powerful than you might think.