{"id":1569,"date":"2002-08-14T01:05:06","date_gmt":"2002-08-14T06:05:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?p=1569"},"modified":"2002-08-14T01:05:06","modified_gmt":"2002-08-14T06:05:06","slug":"under_us_guard_khatami_responds_to_axis_of_evil_charge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/08\/under_us_guard_khatami_responds_to_axis_of_evil_charge\/","title":{"rendered":": Under US Guard, Khatami Responds to &#8220;Axis of Evil&#8221; Charge"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><table cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" border=\"0\" align=\"right\">\n<tr>\n<td><img><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"right\">\n<div class=\"caption\"><\/div>\n<p><\/p><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p>The so-called \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.satirewire.com%2Fnews%2Fjan02%2Faxis.shtml\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Axis of Evil<\/a>\u201d coined by President Bush is a strange thing.  One member, Iraq, is at the center of publicly discussed <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com%2Fwp-dyn%2Farticles%2FA15009-2002Aug13.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">war plans<\/a> to remove Saddam Hussein, despite <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk%2FIraq%2FStory%2F0%2C2763%2C769851%2C00.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">resistance<\/a> from US allies.  Another member, North Korea, gets a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.voanews.com%2Farticle.cfm%3FobjectID%3D5DAEB10D-7C52-4954-87BA9B588247B434%26title%3DUS%2520Diplomat%2520Attending%2520North%2520Korean%2520Nuclear%2520Plant%2520Ceremony%26catOID%3D45C9C78B-88AD-11D4-A57200A0CC5EE46C\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">free nuclear plant<\/a> courtesy of the US and South Korea (in exchange for a commitment to non-proliferation of nuclear weapons), heavy doses of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.voanews.com%2Farticle.cfm%3FobjectID%3D72F8EC8D-3FEC-42A6-BC0864E01101CA47%26title%3DMillions%2520of%2520N%252E%2520Koreans%2520Could%2520go%2520Hungry%252C%2520warns%2520UN%26catOID%3D45C9C78B-88AD-11D4-A57200A0CC5EE46C\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">food aid<\/a> to stave off possible famine, and <a href=\"http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk%2F1%2Fhi%2Fworld%2Fasia-pacific%2F2165523.stm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">regular visits<\/a> by senior US diplomats.  This week, President Mohammed Khatami of the third \u201cAxis\u201d member, Iran, took the opportunity during a state visit to Afghanistan to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sunspot.net%2Fnews%2Fnationworld%2Fbal-afghan-iran13.story%3Fcoll%3Dbal%252Dnationworld%252Dheadlines\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">reject US criticism<\/a> of Iran, claiming that the state has always opposed Al-Qaida and had recently <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com%2Fwp-dyn%2Farticles%2FA3759-2002Aug10.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">turned over<\/a> Al-Qaida operatives they had captured to their countries of origin.  \u201cWe declare that Iran will not allow itself to be used by terrorists or al Qaeda groups,\u201d said Khatami. \u201cIf we get the smallest hint that there are some suspected terrorists, we will arrest and extradite them, and not just to Saudi Arabia.\u201d  (The US <a href=\"http:\/\/www.voanews.com%2Farticle.cfm%3FobjectID%3D7D74B6FC-B151-4C95-A6CFD8E899358696%26title%3DRumsfeld%253A%2520Iran%2520Letting%2520al%252DQaida%2520In%26catOID%3D45C9C78D-88AD-11D4-A57200A0CC5EE46C\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">doesn\u2019t believe<\/a> this.)  Ironically, Khatami was protected during his 10-hour visit by heavily armed <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com%2Fwp-dyn%2Farticles%2FA11551-2002Aug13.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">US Special Forces<\/a>, in close cooperation with Iranian security officials.  Caught in the middle, Karzai hopes to be a bridge between the two estranged countries.  \u201cIran and America are both friends to Afghanistan,\u201d said Karzai during Khatami\u2019s visit. \u201cIf we can link both countries as a friend to both, we will not hesitate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><i><\/i><\/p>\n<p>Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.\n<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Though the US doesn&#8217;t believe him, Iran&#8217;s President Khatami defends his country against the &#8220;Axis of Evil&#8221; charge and vows to round up Al-Qaida terrorists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":530,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-briefings"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>: Under US Guard, Khatami Responds to &#8220;Axis of Evil&#8221; 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