heradstveit bonham (2007) - what the axis of evil metaphor did to iran

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What the Axis of Evil Metaphor Did to IranAuthor(s): Daniel Heradstveit and G. Matthew BonhamReviewed work(s):Source: Middle East Journal, Vol. 61, No. 3 (Summer, 2007), pp. 421-440Published by: Middle East InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4330418 .

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What heAxis of Evil MetaphorDid to Iran

Daniel HeradstveitandG. MatthewBonham

This articlefocuses on theAxis of Evil metaphor hatwas used by PresidentGeorgeWBush n his Stateof the UnionAddressn 2002 to represent ran,Iraq,

andNorthKorea.Afterdescribing"axis"as a metonymorfascismand Nazism,

and "evil" as a metonym or Satanic orces that impliesan alliance of Iran,

Iraq,and NorthKorea hat is collectivelyresponsibleor evildeeds,theauthors

analyzetheimpactof thismetaphor nIranian elf-imageandpolitics.Thedata

for this analysisaredrawnromin-depth nterviews onductedwith18 members

of the Iranianoppositionalelite. TheinterviewresultssuggestthattheAxis of

Evilmetaphorhadan impacton politicaldiscourse nIranandstrengthenedhe

rhetorical ositionofconservatives is-a'-viseformers y revivingmilitant evo-

lutionaryanguagewiththeGreatSatan(the UnitedStates)as themaintargetof

the theocraticand conservativeorces. Thearticleconcludeswithsome obser-

vationsaboutthe implicationsof usingculturaland historicalexperiencesor

explainingdifferences etween he ways nwhichAmericans and otherpeople in

theWest) nd Iranianshaveunderstoodhemetaphor

In hisarticle,we focuson theAxis of Evilas a creativemetaphor;hat s, a metaphor

that s capableof givingus a new view of the world.'Metaphors the firststep in theconstruction f suchnovel understandings,speciallythose that change theway we

see ourworld.2The restructuringftenbegins with a vague idea that has long been

DanielHeradstveits Professor ndSeniorResearchAssociateat theNorwegian nstitute f InternationalAffairs.He hasheldpositionsas Professor f International elationsatJohnsHopkinsUniversityn Bo-logna, Professorof Comparative olitics at the Universityof Bergen,andvisitingprofessorat SyracuseUniversity.He is theauthoror co-author f ninebookson the MiddleEast,semiotics,andpoliticalpsy-chology.His latestbook is Oil in theGulf:Obstacles oDemocracy ndDevelopment,o-editedby Helge

Hveem (Oxford:Ashgate,2004). G. MatthewBonham s Professor f PoliticalScienceandChairof theInternational elationsProgram t the MaxwellSchoolof SyracuseUniversity.He hasdoneresearch ntheMiddleEastandCentralAsia,Norwegian il policy,relationsbetween heUnitedStatesandRussia,and theexpansionof theEuropeanUnion.He is currentlyonducting esearch n communicativespectsof the"War n Terrorism." is recentresearchhas beenpublishedn InternationaltudiesQuarterly,n-ternational tudiesPerspectives,s wellas a number f anthologies.Thiss arevisedversionof a paper hatwaspresented tthe 461Annual nternationaltudiesAssociationConvention,Honolulu,March1-5,2005.It is based, npart,on a larger eport, ranand theAxisofEvil,NUPIResearchReportNo.277, September2003. Theresearch,whichwasconducted s partof theProjectGrouporStudies nthe PersianGulfof theNorwegian nstitute f Internationalffairs NUPI), was supported y the NorwegianResearchCouncil(ProjectNo. 144705-510), he NorwegianMinistryof ForeignAffairs,andNUPI's ResearchGroupon

TerrorismndInternationalrime.Theauthorswouldlike to thankNaghmehSohrabi orherassistancewith the research.

1. "In the metaphoricalstatement ... the contextualaction creates a new meaning, which trulyhas the status of event since it exists only in the presentcontext ... In this way, the innovationof an

emergentmeaningcanbe takenas a linguistic creation.Andif it is adoptedby a significantpartof thelinguisticcommunity, t in turncan become a common meaning and add to the polysemy of lexicalentities."PaulRicoeur,Ruleof Metaphor Toronto:Universityof TorontoPress, 1977), p. 99.

2. Ricoeurrefersto the "symbolthat gives rise to thought.""It s this articulation f thoughtposit-

MIDDLEEAST JOURNAL* VOLUME61, NO. 3, SUMMER2007 [Continuedon nextpage]



422 * MIDDLEEASTJOURNAL

neglected,such as an "Axis." n this respecttheAxis of Evil metaphor s a kind of

cognitivebreakthrough,n effort o restructureheinternationalystemas it wasinthe

1930s - an attempt o see theworld hrough he eyes of thatperiod.Recalling he Sec-

ond WorldWar, heAxis Powersareevil,andtheimplications thatsomethingmustbe

done about hem.If youfindthemetaphorobecompelling, henyoumustact. Infact,metaphor anctionsactionsandhelpsto buildgoals.3Metaphor utsan end to debate

once you follow it to its conclusion,andthentheimplications oraction are obvious.

A senioradvisor o PresidentBush hasacknowledged he implications f this view in

an interviewwith a journalist.He said,"We'rean empirenow,and when we act,we

createourownreality judiciously, asyouwill - we'll actagain,creatingothernew

realities,whichyoucanstudy oo,andthat'showthingssortout. We'rehistory'sactors

... and you,all of you,will be lefttojust studywhatwe do."4

The contributionf thisarticle s its focus on both thetargetof a metaphor, nd

its source.5While the metaphormay re-structurehe way the West views Iran, t also

re-structureshewaytheIranians iew theworld,and,moreimportantly,hemselves.

The Axis of Evil metaphor ivides the world nto twoparts: hose whobelievein the

metaphor ndthose who do not.However,whetheryoubelieve n themetaphor rnot,

it changesthe way you viewyour world.For example, he targetsof the Axis of Evil

maynot takethemetaphor eriously,buttheydon'twant o bepartof "Evil."Forthem

the sourceof themetaphormayalsobecomethe sourceof evil.

THEAXISOF EVILSPEECH6

In his Stateof the UnionAddressto Congresson January 9, 2002, President

Bush used the expression, heAxis of Evil, to includeIraq,Iran,and North Korea:

"States ikethese,andtheir errorist llies,constitute nAxis of Evil, arming o threat-

en thepeaceof theworld.By seekingweaponsof massdestruction,heseregimespose

a graveandgrowingdanger."7

[Continuedfrompreviouspage]ing and thinking thatconstitutes the critical point of our whole enterprise."PaulRicoeur, The Sym-

bolism of Evil, tr. EmersonBuchanan New York:Harperand Row, 1967), pp. 348-349. Ricoeuralso

discusses the power of metaphor o "redescribe eality."PaulRicoeur,TheRule of Metaphor,p. 6.

3. George Lakoff and Mark Johnson,MetaphorsWe Live By (Chicago: Universityof Chicago

Press, 1980), p. 142. The authorswould like to thankVictor M. Sergeev for describing how new

metaphorscan change one's ontology of the world.

4. RonSuskind, "Without Doubt,"TheNew YorkTimes,October17, 2004.

5. The natureof metaphoricalmappings s describedby Lakoff: "Ametaphoricmapping nvolves

a source domain anda targetdomain.The sourcedomain is assumedto be structured y a proposi-

tional or image-schematicmodel.The mapping s typically partial; t mapsthe structure f the ICM

[idealizedcognitivemodel] in the sourcedomainonto a corresponding tructuren thetargetdomain."

See George Lakoff, Women,Fire, and Dangerous Things:WhatCategories Reveal About the Mind

(Chicago:Universityof Chicago Press, 1986), p. 288.

6. An earlierversion of thisanalysis of the Axis of Evil speech andmetaphorwas publishedby the

authors n G. MatthewBonham and Daniel Heradstveit,"The 'Axis of Evil' Metaphorand the Re-

structuring f IranianViewsToward he US," Vaseteh Journalof the EuropeanSociety or Iranian

Studies,Vol. 1,No. 1 (2005), pp. 89-105.

7. "NorthKorea s a regime armingwith missiles andweaponsof mass destruction,while starv-

ing its citizens. Iranaggressively pursuesthese weapons andexportsterror,while an unelectedfew[Continuedon nextpage]



WHATTHEAXISOFEVILMETAPHORIDTOIRAN* 423

Thephrase tself was constructed y DavidFrum,a WhiteHousespeechwriter,

who came up with "Axis of Hatred"o describe he linkagebetweenIraqand terror-

ism.Frum'sboss, MichaelGerson, hanged hephrase o Axis of Evil tomake t sound"moresinister,even wicked."8Later Condoleezza

Rice,PresidentBush's

NationalSecurityAdvisor,andStephenHadley,DeputyNationalSecurityAdvisor,suggestedaddingNorthKoreaand Iranas partof theAxis. Hadleyhad secondthoughtsabout

addingIran,because t had a democraticallylectedpresident, ut Bush liked theidea

of including ran."'No,'thepresident aid, 'I want it in."'9 n an interviewwithBob

Woodward,Bushlater elaborated is reasoningbehind ncludingIran:"And he fact

that hepresident f the UnitedStateswould standupandsayIran s justlikeIraqand

NorthKorea in otherwordsyou'vegot a problem andthepresidents willingtocall it, is partof howyoudeal with Iran.And thatwill inspire hosewho love freedom

insidethecountry."'0Intheend,PresidentBush's senioradvisors, uch as KarlRove,thought hat he

Axisof Evil wasa signature hrase,"adeclaration.. that hecountrynowwouldhave

a greatmission. It was big, new,and different.""Althoughsome doubtedwhether twould makesenseto linkthe threecountries,hemetaphorwasregarded y the Pres-ident'sadvisorsas a "watershed"hatwoulddefine theproblemn "graphic, iblicaltermswithoutpubliclycommittingo a particularolution."'2

The use of the phraseAxis of Evil was a restructuringf theAmericanunder-

standingof the "War nTerror,"n which the focusshifted romUsamabin Ladinand

al-Qa'ida,with theirallies and bases in Afghanistan,o a series of otherstates,whoseinvolvementn thatoperation anged romminimal o non-existent.Theuncharitable

might inkthis shiftto the failure o catchUsamabinLadin, n that heAdministrationhada need to show that t wasstill"doing omething,"venif thatsomethingwasun-connectedwithbringing he WorldTradeCenterattackersojustice.Thekeyconceptsin thisrestructuringavebeenfirstly"terroristtates,"which mpliesthe"indivisibilityof terrorism"'3ndtherefore hat hecollectiveresponsibilityor9/1 1 is onanystatesodesignated; ndsecondly,weaponsof massdestruction,ecauseanyonewhopossessesthemmaybe tempted o sell orgive themto terrorists,husevoking earsof chemical,biological,orevennuclearattacksonAmerican ities.However,anyonewhoalreadypossesses nuclearweapons is immunefromattack,as for instancePakistan,whose

military ntelligenceservice was the chief sponsorof theTaliban, ndpossiblyNorthKorea.

Thetoposof "terroristtateswithweaponsof massdestruction"s therefore on-finedto hostilestatesthatmay, at some time in the future,acquirenuclearweapons

[Continuedfrompreviouspage]repress heIranianpeople'shopeforfreedom.Iraqcontinuesto flaunt ts hostility towardAmericaandto support error." residentGeorgeW.Bush, State of the UnionAddress,January29, 2002.

8. Bob Woodward,Plan ofAttack(NewYork:Simon andSchuster,2004), p. 87.9. Woodward,Plan ofAttack,p. 88.

10.Woodward,Plan ofAttack,p. 88.

11.Woodward,Plan ofAttack,p. 90.

12.Woodward,Plan ofAttack,pp.93-94.

13.The phrase,"indivisibilityof terrorism,"was used by RupertCornwell,"HowWar n theMid-dle EastRoils TransatlanticRelations,"EuropeanAffairs,Vol. 3, No. 2 (2002).




whichtheymay,at sometime inthefuture,possiblybetemptedo bestowon terrorists.

Iranmost definitelyqualifiesunder hesecriteria,nthat t is considered hostilestate,

has a nuclearprogram, ndcannotprove hat t will not so bestow heseweapons.'4 he

Americangovernment's pproacho the burdenof proofwas amplydemonstratedn

the caseof Iraq,where t asserted hatneither he UnitedStatesnor theUN needed o

provethatIraqhad WMDs, but thatthe Iraqishadto provethattheydidnot, and that

anyevidencepresentedwas fake.

Two otherreasons orgranting ranmembershipn theAxis of Evil areprobably

first, the theocracy'sgeneralhostility to the United States (opposition o Goodmust

necessarilybeEvil)andsecond, tsattitude owardserrorism;enerally,hatIrandoes

not consider he Palestinians'truggleagainst he Israelis o constitute errorism, nd

specifically,hecountry's upportorHizbullahn Lebanon.

THEAXIS OF EVILMETAPHOR

Manyobserversn the UnitedStatesandEuropewere both amusedandpuzzled

by PresidentBush'suse of thephrase,Axis of Evil. Someregardedhephraseasjust

emptyrhetoric hatwasdesigned o appeal o domesticaudiencesn the UnitedStates.

Forexample, hephrasespawned he "Axisof Evil Cookbook,"whichwaspublished

by the NthPosition,an on-line magazine.'5Althoughthis phrasemay have been an

inventionof the President's peech writers, t containsmetonymicconceptsthat are

groundedn experienceand,like metaphors, structureotjust ourlanguagebut alsoourthoughts,attitudes, ndactions."'6

Bush used the word"evil" ive times in this speech,three imesreferringo en-

emies. He also used it in his speechto the nationon September11,2001, and a week

laterhe described errorists o Congressas "planning vil."In Novemberof thatyear

Bushtold Newsweek hatSaddamwas also "evil."These areclearexamplesof demoni-

zation,and one of the reasons hephrase he Axis of Evil attracted o muchcriticism

and s said to have doneso muchdamage s thatcallingothercountries vil is not gen-

erallyconsideredo be thelanguageof diplomacy.There s probably necho of Ronald

Reagan's abelof "EvilEmpire" or the Soviet Union, which wasequallycriticizedat

thetime. It is possiblethatmanyAmericans emi-consciously magine hat,since theEvilEmpires no longerwithus,theapplication f such a label hasa beneficent ffect

thatcan be repeatedn thecase of the newenemies.Thismaybe connectedwith the

rise of fundamentalist hristianity, hichis encouraging hemto see worldpolitics n

eschatologicalerms.

14. At first the United Statesconcentratedon the Iraniannucleardevelopment,with Russianas-sistance,of a nuclearpower station n Bushehr.The UnitedStatesbelieved that this facility could be

used to producenuclearweapons. Subsequently,the United States learnedto its own surprise hat

Iranhad a nuclear weaponsdevelopment programnear the city of Natanz.Secretaryof StateColin

Powell used this as anexample of how a country,determined o develop nuclearweapons, couldkeep

the process hidden from inspectorsandother outsiders. "Powell Says Iran Is PursuingBomb,"The

WashingtonPost, November 18, 2004, p. AO1.

15. See Val Stevenson,"The Axis of Evil Cookbook,"http://www.nthposition.comlaxis_booklet.

pdf.

16.Lakoff andJohnson,MetaphorsWeLive By, p. 39.




CertainlyBushand someof his advisors,as evangelicalChristians,mayhaveatendency owards dualisticviewof life, as a strugglebetweenGood andEvil,withnomiddleground."Thosewho are notwithus, areagainstus,"he told the moresecularEuropeans,who insist on tryingto understand situation's omplexities.'7

Althoughthe use of theword"evil" orflyinghijackedaircraft ntocivilianbuildingswill strikemanypeopleasjustified, t is thecorollary, heother side of theeschatological oin,which s especiallydangerous:heassumptionhat he divisionof GoodandEvilcoin-cideswith the divisionbetweenUs andThem.Consequently,nthisdualisticpictureoftheworld, he UnitedStates s a Force orGood,even theForceforGood.Thismeansthatanything t chooses to do is Good andanything hatoffendsor inconveniencest

is Evil.

Theimportanthingabout he "evil" omponent f themetaphors thatevil hasno

specificgoal - exceptto produce vil. As anontological orce evil has nointerestsofits ownexcept the interests elated o its destination:hat s whyall negotiationswithevil arefruitless.There s nowaytomakea dealwithevil,excepttoinclude nthis dealeven a greater vil, notforyoubut forothers.Therefore,heForcesof Evil have to bedestroyed otallyby theForcesof Good.Moreover,heabsurdunityof suchdifferentpolitical orces as IranandNorthKorea eemnot to be so absurd,f youagreewiththeprinciple f theUnity of Evil.If there s only oneevil,all of its incarnationsresimplythedifferent ormsof oneforce anargumentwhich s veryeasyto understand henyouaccept he dualisticontology.Heretheontologicalchangesproduced y metaphor

areobvious.'8TheAxiscomponent anbeconsidered nseveralevels. Inthefirstplace, t is an

incoherentmetaphor, s anaxis is a straightine; thefigurative seis, in fact,takennotfromCartesian eometry thex andy axeson a graph)butfromtheaxisof theEarth'srotation.Anaxisaroundwhichsomething evolvess madebytwopoints;youcanhavethreepoints oinedin a triangle,but thennothingcanrevolvearounda triangle.Thisgeometrical sageactuallyderives roma misunderstoodmodificationo themetaphorshortlyafter t wascoined.

TheoriginalAxiswas thatbetweenHitler'sGermany ndMussolini's taly.Orig-inallyrivals, heyweredriven ogetherby theWesternPowers'hostility o theremili-tarization f theRhineland ndtheconquestof Ethiopia. n 1936theyannouncedhathenceforthheworldwouldrevolvearoundheRome-BerlinAxis. Germany ndItalythusbecame"theAxis Powers."OnNovember1, 1936Mussolinireported n thehis-toricagreementbetweenGermany ndItaly,and he said,"ThisBerlin-Rome erticalline is notanobstaclebutrather naxis aroundwhich canrevolveall thoseEuropeanstateswitha will tocollaboration ndpeace."'9 fter hesignature f thetripartite nti-

17. On September16, 2001, President Bush stated, in response to a question about homelandsecurityand civil rights, "Thisis a new kind of - a new kindof evil. And we understand.And theAmericanpeople are beginningto understand.This crusade,this waron terrorism s going to takea while." "Remarksby the PresidentUpon Arrival,"September16, 2001, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010916-2.html.

18. The authorswould like to thankVictor M. Sergeevfor these insights aboutthe Axis of Evilmetaphor.

19. Benito Mussolini, Edoardoand Duilio Susmel, eds., Opera Omnia (Florence, 1951-1960,Rome, 1978-1980), Volume28, pp.67-72.




ComintemPact ater n the year,Japanwas called an Axis Power oo, but in fact there

was no strategic ollaboration etween he EuropeanAxis andthe Japanese.

The metaphor as thusbeen a logical absurdity uta powerfulaffective ool since

1936. "Axis" vokes "our" nemiesof theSecondWorldWar,and it is a metonym orNazism andfascism.20 his historical esonance s the secondlevel.Nobody today n

polite societycansay anything oodabout heAxisPowers,andanyonecomparedwith

them s stigmatized.

A thirdand related evel is that theAxis metaphor mplies the alliance of the

countries ncludedn it.Given heintenseantipathy etween raqandIran,andthelack

of muchvisibleconnectionbetweeneitherand NorthKorea, hetropehas occasioned

much ridicule,withTV and internetwits grouping ogether ripletsof countriesal-

legedly offendedat beingleft out of the Axis. In theory,we mightspeakof the world

revolvingaroundan axis of inveteratenemies, n the sense thattheirquarrels whatpowers nternational olitics.Thatwouldbe a reasonable se of themetaphor, ndus-

ingit for pre-2003Iran-IraqwithoutNorthKorea)wouldnot be inappropriate,utthe

public consensusseemsto be thatthis is not in fact what PresidentBushmeant.Nor

would sucha use have muchmobilizingpower.It appears ather hatBush wasusing

theAxismetaphorn theoriginal ense,tosuggest hatIraq, ran,andNorthKoreawere

notonlyEvil countriesn themselves,butwerein alliancewithoneanother gainst he

restof us. Inotherwords,this is notmerelyEvilbut a conspiracyof Evil. Demoniza-

tion and conspiracy heoriesalways go hand n hand; hehumanmindappearso be

naturallynclined o weave allperceivedhreatsntoa single pattern.In thiswaythe Axis of Evil conceptallows a return o the bipolarworldof the

201 century,when all one's enemieswere fronts or Internationalewry, nternational

Capitalism,or InternationalCommunism, ccording o variousnarratives. t allows

Americans o think hat"evil" s a featureof particular eographical egions, araway

countriesaboutwhichtheyknowlittle,and thus notof Texasor Wyoming,which are

partof the Kingdomof Good. It suggeststhat terrorism s something hatis mostly

createdorpromotedby a list of countriesacting n concert,butwhosememberships

notfixedforever.We caneasily envisage heAxisof Evil intheyear2010 beingtwo or

threecountriesother hanIraq, ran,andNorthKorea.

Finally,we may note how the use of the tropesof the Waron Terrorand the

Axis of Evil in the samerhetorical iscourse ervesto imply,withoutactually tating,

that the Axis is collectively responsible for the attacksof 9/11. The attemptto acquire

weaponsof massdestruction,hepromotion f radical-Islamicerrorism, nd acts of

generaldictatorial npleasantnessre all mixedup together,withtheimplicationhat

responsibilityoranyoneof them s responsibilityor all of them.This we mightcall

theprincipleof "the ndivisibility f evil."

20. Lakoff and Johnson point out that "metaphor nd metonymy aredifferentkinds of processes.

Metaphor s principallya way of conceiving of one thing in termsof another .. Metonymy, on the

otherhand,has primarilya referential unction,thatis, it allows us to use one entity to standfor an-

other."MetaphorsWeLive By, p. 36.



WHATTHEAXISOF EVILMETAPHORIDTOIRAN* 427

THECONTEXTUALACKGROUND21

Prior o theAxis of Evil speech,Iranian-Americanelationshad beenundergo-

ing a thaw.One factorwas PresidentKhatami's dea of a "dialogue f civilizations,"22presented s a response o SamuelHuntington's lashof civilizations heory.Another

was the apologyprofferedn March2000 by Secretaryof StateMadeleineAlbrightfor the events of 1953.She admitted hattheUnited Statesplayeda majorrole in the

overthrow f PrimeMinisterMuhammadMossadeqandtherebyputan end to Iranian

democratizationor the sakeof itsownoil interests.She alsoapologized orAmerica's

support f theShah'sbrutal epression nd or itsshort-sightednessnsupportingraq's

waragainst ran rom1980to 1988.Elite nterviews onductednboth200023 and2002

showedthatAlbright'sapologymadea strong mpression n theIranian ppositional

elite.A third actorwas the Iranian ollaborationwiththe WestoverAfghanistan.The

United Statesgraduallygrewdisenchantedwith theTaliban,which it hadoriginally

hoped mightstabilize hecountry.At the end of the 1990s MadeleineAlbright tated

that the UnitedStateswas now an opponentof the Talibanbecause of their"despi-

cable" treatment f women and theirgeneraldisrespect or humanrights. Similarly,

on September 5, 2001 ForeignSecretary ack StrawvisitedTehran, he firstofficialUK government isit since 1979,with a view to gettingIranto join the anti-Taliban

coalition.He stated hatIranwas a usefulandimportantonsulteewithregard o Af-

ghanistan.For theirpart,the Iraniansweresupportinghe NorthernAlliance, whoseethnicbackbonewas the Taziks24f thePanshirValleyand whichhadbeen under he

leadership f the legendaryguerrillaeaderAhmedShah Masouduntil his assassina-

tion on September , 2001 by al-Qa'idaagents.Following he attacksof 9/11, Iranand

the UnitedStates now had a common nterest n crushing heTaliban. ranenvisaged

a newgeopoliticalrolefor itself inAfghanistan ndCentralAsia, in alliancewith theUnitedStates. On November27, 2001 representativesf the NorthernAlliance andvariousAfghanexile groupsmet inBonnto construct transitionaldministration.he

NorthernAllianceacceptedaninternationaleace-keeping orce, andby December5thenegotiators adagreedon a government f nationalunityunderHamidKarzai. ran

playeda constructive ole at thisconference.Everything eemedto point towards ol-

laboration, eteverythingwouldchange ollowingthe Axis speech.

21. For a summaryof recentUS relationswithIranand a descriptionof the internalpoliticalsitua-

tion in Iran,see ErvandAbrahamian, EmpireStrikesBack:Iran n U.S. Sights," n BruceCummings,ErvandAbrahamian,and Moshe Ma'oz, eds., Inventing the Axis of Evil: The Truthabout NorthKorea,Iran,and Syria(New York: The New Press,2004). Abrahamian rgues(p. 94), among otherthings, thatthe Axis of Evil speechthreatens o reverse the process of reform n Iran.

22. See MuhammadKhatami,Hope and Challenge(Binghamton,NY:Instituteof GlobalCulturalStudiesBinghamtonUniversity,1997).

23. Daniel Heradstveit,"ElitePerceptionsof EthicalProblemsFacing theWesternOil IndustrynIran," ournalof IranianResearchandAnalysis, Vol. 17,No. 2 (2001), pp.22-40.

24. Taziksare theIranians' thniccousinsin CentralAsia, as they aresurrounded y mostlyTurkicpeoples.




9/11 AND THEAXIS OF EVILIN IRANIANPOLITICS

THERESPONDENTS

Thedataforthisresearchwere collectedduring ieldworkn Iran n Marchand

April2002.Weconductedn-depthnterviewswith18members f the Iranian oliticalelitewhomaycurrently e consideredpartof thepoliticalopposition.25he"politicalopposition" s deemed to be those forces thatsupport eforms endingto strengthendemocratic rocessesand nstitutions, ndtherebyweakeningheautocratic oliticsof

thevelayat-efaqih.Thesurvey s basedon similar ield interviews onducted nApril2000 in which a totalof 14respondentsromtheIranian ppositionwere interviewed.

Theresponses hownbelowaredirectquotationsrom ndividualshatweretaken rom

detailed nterviewnotes.

SAMPLE NDMETHODOLOGY

We have made a purposive ampleof politicalelites who represent oliciesand

political deologiesthatare n competitionwiththe established nes,andthatmayone

day in the futurebe the mainstream.We also haveincludedrepresentativesf Iran's

culturaland artistic lite,a segmentof thepopulationhathasbeen animportantata-

lyst in the reformprocessthatthecountryhas beenundergoingorthelastdecade.Itshouldbeemphasizedhat his is notapopulationample nthestatistical ense. Social

science knows of no inter-subjectivendconsensualdefinitionof "elite,"andso nouniverses f "elitemembers"anpossiblybe identified. notherwords, t is impossibletotakea statistically epresentativeample,andforourresearch urposest is not evendesirable.

The interviewswere in-depth,andlastedon averagean hour anda half; a few

questionshadclosed responsecategories,while most were open.This methodologyinvolves ime-consumingwork o code theresponses,butthe openmethodwas a natu-

ralconsequenceof our notknowing heresponseuniverseverywell. In otherwords,we werepreparedobe surprised y what he elitesaid.Open-ended uestionsprovideinterestingnformation, nd oursurveyshave shown hat orpoliticalelitesthis proce-dure s stimulating theintervieweesgive moreof themselves han s thecase withclosedquestions.Theproblems risesubsequently, henwe trytoreviewandorganizethedata.Categorizing ndcoding of replies s a time-consuming rocess,butgivesthereader certainquantitativeictureof theresults naddition o theopportunityoenterthecognitiveworldof therespondentsia theextensiveanswers.

On theotherhand, he interviewnstrumentwas standardized,o thatall the re-

spondentswereaskedthesamequestions.Here it was a greathelpthatwe wereableto builduponthe knowledgeandexpertisewe had alreadyacquiredhrougha corre-sponding litesurveyundertakennApril2000.Theseeliteinterviews realso a partofa cumulative esearch trategynvolvingplansforfurtherraniannterview ounds. nthisperspective t is importanto elicit thecognitiveuniverseof therespondents, nd

25. For the respondents' ndividualbiographical nformation,please see the Appendixat the endof the article.



WHATTHEAXIS OFEVIL METAPHORDID TOIRAN * 429

for this reasonwe havechosen opresent eplieson mosttopicsalmostverbatim,whichis not usualin suchinvestigations.The objective s nexttime to operatewithclosedresponsecategorieson thebasisof the knowledgegarneredrom the 2000 and2002

surveys. tshouldbe noted hat his is notexclusivelya matter f snapshots f politicalattitudesas in opinionpolls, becauseourarbitraryampleof respondentsncludesadynamicperspective;hat s, it triesto lookforward.

We are alsofullyawareof the limitations f the data.Wehave imitedoursurveyto thepoliticalopposition n Iranand musttherefore ssume hatthe statementsmadein ourinterviewsreflecta politicalstrategy,hatis, the rhetoricof the opposition. tmustbe assumed hat heresponsesarepartof a politicalstrategyo discredit hesup-porters f AyatollahKhamene'i nd herevolutionaryoctrine f the IslamicRepublic.The fact thatwe wereforeignershelpedto softenthis aspect,becauseconversations

withforeigners mphasize he informativeperception-reflexive)ttheexpenseof theagitationand demagogy(instrumental)hatdominate he domesticpowerstruggle.However,what s said in oral nterviewsmayeasilyfail to match he facts.Oursurveymakesno attempto measurehe"truth uotient."Onthecontrary,ur aimis to chartnot factsbutperceptions.

THE RANIANELF-IMAGE

Before we turn to the respondents' views of the current state of play in Iranian

politicsand whichfactions haveprofitedandwhich suffered romthe Axis of Evilrhetoric,we shalllookbrieflyatwhattheysaid orimpliedaboutIran'smageof itselfin the newworldcreatedby theWorldTradeCenterattacks.

RESPONSES

Iran'sNationalUnityHas Been Strengthened

September11led to the Iranian overnmenteelingmoreresponsibilityor itspeo-ple. In generalpeople felt a certainsatisfaction n notingthatperipheral ationsin theThirdWorldcouldplaysuch an importantole in the USA. It is a paradoxthatsome of those whofelt satisfaction lsoreactedagainst heblindandpointlessviolence.

September11 has madethe rulersunderstandhattheymustdo moreto removethegapbetween herulersandtheruled.Thereformists renowopenlyadmittingthatthisgulf - whichis gettingwider exists.Thatpoliticians ake t seriouslyis shownby the greater reedomof speech:Therearecontroversiesnddisagree-

mentson therole thatshouldbeplayed n thisbythecourts,whichare nthehandsof the 'Leader.'

Prior o September11,foreignpolicywas a subcategory f domesticpolicy.Thiscreateda situation n whichnational ecuritypolicyacquired separate imension,partlyelevatedoverdomesticpolicy.Foreignpolicy was subjectto a tug of warbetweendifferent actions n whicheach conducted ts own foreignpolicy.AfterSeptember11, Iransawitselfobligedto change ts foreign-policy riorities.Con-servatives ndreformers ametogethermoreoftenthanbefore norder osearch or



430 * MIDDLE EASTJOURNAL

consensus n foreignpolicy.

Iranianoreignandsecuritypolicy is moreimportanthanever.Previously, achfaction conducted ts own foreignpolicy.Now thereis no doubtthat we need a

singlenational oreignpolicy.We must hink hings hrough arefullybeforewe actin theforeignpolicyarena.

Afterthe WTC, previousdisagreementswere laid aside. Before there were fac-

tions n the stateconductingheirownforeignpolicy.Forexample,Khatamiwasn'tawareof whatPasdarantheRevolutionary uard]wasdoing nAfghanistan.

Iran Has Become MoreIntegratedinto the WorldCommunity

The events made Iranians ealizethateverythinghathappens n this worldhascomecloser.Even whathappensa longwayawaycan haveconsequencesorIran.The notionthat we can isolate ourselvesfromthe rest of the world has become

weaker.

Ourgeopoliticalpositionmeant hateveryonehadto talkto us afterSeptember 1.Thismadeus feel important.

September 1reduced hetension inked o Iran n theinternationalommunity.

Theeventsaffectedeverycountryn theworld,and it is thereforenotadvisable oconsider ran eparately.t was a watershedhatmanypeoplethink hould orm hebasisof a new internationalystembasedon multilateralism.uropean ountriesareconcernedwith thisas well.

The need to strengthenhe globalcommunityanddemocratic alues has alwaysexisted.The WTChasstrengthenedheglobalcommunity.

Peoplearedependent n one another.This timeit wastheUSA thatwasaffected,

nexttime it canequallywell be us. Thedividebetweendifferent ultures s notsoclearanylonger;we canhavethe samefeelingsacrossculturalboundaries.

The catastropheof September11] was an excellentopportunityor IraniansoexpresssympathywiththeUSA anddemonstratehatthecountrydistancedtselffromthat sort of act. Iran oinedthe mainstreamf globalpolitics.Khatami ndmostotherIraniansxpressed ympathywiththeUSA, and n theworkof democ-ratizingAfghanistan,rancooperatedwiththeUSA. Khatami's pproach eflectedIranian ttitudes.

Iran is Perceived as Less Extreme

On September11 we were confrontedwith a modern orm of extremism.Thisweakened heimageof Iranas anextremist ountry.

Iranianxtremism s viewed n a gentler ightbecause heeventsso clearlyshowedthat heextremeelements n SunniIslamarewillingtogo further han heextremeelements n IranianShi'i Islam.Extremism n Shi'i Islam s moremodern han n



WHATTHE AXIS OF EVIL METAPHORDID TO IRAN * 431

SunniIslam.

AlthoughBin Ladinwas nohero, herewassympathyor himover he wholeworld.

Even in Europe hereweregroupswhowore Bin LadinT-shirts.Nothing ike this

happenedn Iran;heretherewas noone whoexpressed ympathyorhim.

It is importanthat Iranwas not involved.The ideologicalvocabularyn Iranhas

changed.Peopleno longercareabout ssues thatare of onlysymbolic mportance.Forexample he man n thestreethas no interest n fightingnLebanon.Howdoes

this serveour nterests?

It is importanthatnoteverybodyn Iranaccepted helogicbehind he acts.

It is importanthatKhatami ondemnedhe actsafteronly 11hours.

Iran Is the Lighthouseof Islam

We areunlikeothercountries n theregion.Ourpoliticalcultures in constantde-

velopment.And the veryfactthatwe have not stagnated asgivenus confidence.

Everyonewho comes fromoutsidemustpassthrough ran; hisgives us powerat

the sametimeas makingus vulnerableo attack.

Ingeneral,Arab ocietiesarestagnant. his is byno means hesituationnIran.Wehave a dynamic ocietywitha politicalphilosophynconstantdevelopment.

Of the threecountries hatBush first ncluded n the Axis of Evil, Iran s theonlyone where hepopulations well-educated.Moreover,ranplaysanimportant eo-

politicalrole.

The Iranian eformmovement,whichclaimsthata modempoliticalmovement an

grow upin anIslamiccountry,puts Iran n a specialposition.By focusingon elec-

tions andhumanrights, hereformists resendinga powerfulmessageto Muslim

countriesandFarsi-speaking opulations.

Most countries n the Muslimworld areheading owardsdemocracy. n this wayIran,comparedwith the restof theMuslimworld,has a lead of 20 years.

Discussion

Some respondentsthoughtthatthe United States had been weakened by 9/11, but

others believed that Iran had been strengthened by the attack. The strengthening they

describe takes the form of an increase in national unity and greatereffort to conduct acoherentforeign policy and a greaterintegration into the internationalcommunity. Our

respondents are sure that the fact that Iranwas quick to condemn the 9/11 terrorist at-

tacks, and indeed was the firstMuslim country to do so, was favorably received by the

rest of the world and would help to soften the West's perception of Iran as a terrorist

state. In the same way, the worldcommunityought to be able to see that the Iranian de-

ological extremism (as exemplified by Pasdaran'sassassination of dissidents in exile) is

in fact not so dangerous after all, in comparison with what happenedin Manhattan.




It was also a commonperception mongour respondents hatas a consequence

of 9/11, Iranhas become more mportantn international olitics.After 9/11, a num-

berof delegations ameto Tehran. ran ooked as if it was about o be welcomed nto

the Western lub.Therespondentsmphasized he constructive olethey thought ran

played,and therewasa generalconsensus hat ts workto createa democraticAfghan

governmentwas of greatassistanceo the West.Behind his enthusiasmt was easy to

see a hopethat hiswouldbe thecountry's uture.

We may suspect hat he respondents ave an overlyoptimisticview of the inter-

national ommunity's bility o distinguish etween he "fundamentalism"f Iranand

thatof the Wahhabis f SaudiArabia.Forthe Iranians,hese are notonly two different

political deologies,buttheyaretwodramatically ifferentwaysof thinking. ran, hey

think,stands oranIslamicroad o modernity,with theability o adapt ochanging ir-

cumstances.Thereformmovement alksabout slamicdemocracy,he ruleof law,free-dom of speech,humanrights,and civil society. However,muchof the Westernworld

just tars he Shi'i Islamistswiththe brushof Wahhabi uritanismndobscurantism.

The key conceptin the mobilizingrhetoricwas "the GreatSatan" the United

States).Today t is mostlythe conservatives nd ultra-conservatives hoclingto this

enemy image,but t appearsromthe interviewsn both2000 and n 2002 thatIranian

elites, despitethe Revolution'sattempt o liberate he country romforeign interfer-

ence, still feel thattheyarein the powerof the United States.26 hehope is thatthe

UnitedStateswill conductsome self-examination nd confess its offensesagainst he

Iranian ation,so thatnew andgoodrelations an be established,n turn acilitatingmodern ran.

THE IMPACTOF THEAxis OF EvWLONIRANIAN OLITICS

Responses

What effect has the Axis of Evil rhetoric had on Iranian politics and

the Iranian factions? (n is the numberof statements)No effect on Iran 2

Strengthenedhe overseasexiles 1

Strengthenedhe reformers 2

Nationalunity 4

Killedoff dialoguewith theUSA 11

A godsend o the conservatives ndultra-conservatives 16

n = 36

26. Daniel Heradstveit,"Elite Perceptionsof Ethical ProblemsFacing theWesternOil Industry n

Iran," ournal of Iranian Researchand Analysis,Vol. 17,No. 2 (2001).



WHATTHE AXIS OF EVIL METAPHORDID TO IRAN * 433

No Effect in Iran;Strengthened he OverseasExiles

No Iranian rouphasexploited histo its ownadvantage.

No singlefaction n Iranhas benefited romthespeech.On theotherhand, heIra-

nianpoliticaloppositionabroadthePahlavists) avebenefited.Thespeechcreated

anatmospherehatenabled he exile oppositionopresenttself as analternativeo

the Islamicgovernment.

Strengthenedthe Reformers

The reformers ave benefitedromthephrase.Theconservatives avebeen scared

and now see theUSA as a real threat.Forthisreason heyaremorecautiousabout

usingtheUSA in the ideologicalstruggleagainst he reformers.Theyunderstandthat his is not the time forideological nitiatives n domesticpolicy;Iranmustact

rationally.All rationaloreignpolicyfavors hereformers. heideologicalelement

inpoliticsharms hecountryandmustbe eliminated.

As long as theywereconfident hat no foreignstate wouldoverthrow hegovern-

ment,the rulersof Iran elt strongenough o oppress heoppositionn thecountry.But afterBush'sspeechon theAxis of Evil,andbearingn mind heactivityof thesecularoppositionabroad includingShahPahlavi's on- thegovernmenton-cluded hat heUSA wouldsupporthe secularandWestern-oriented

ppositionn

Iran. norder o deal with sucha situation ndtheproblems his wouldbring, heywent in fornational econciliation.

NationalUnity

Thereformers re concernednotto give theUSA the impressionhatIrancanbefrightenedntocompliance.Thethreathasbroughtheconservatives ndreformers

together, ompelled o solidarity gainstwhat s seenas anexternaldanger.

The interestinghing is thatwe in Iran acrossfactionalboundaries havereacheda consensuson how to react to it. We shallnot subjectourselves o theUSA,butneither rewe interestedngivingthe USAexcusesforfurtheronfronta-tion. Weareusingthe meanswe have at ourdisposalas regards educing heef-fect thephrasecan haveinternationally,nter alia by cultivatingontactswiththeEuropeans.

Theconservatives avebeensurprisinglyautious.We think t is because heyarequitesimplyscared hat heUSAwill carryout itsthreats. notherwords, his is too

serious oexploitforpropagandaurposes.

If we arethreatenedromoutside,we will stand ogether egardless f ourviewsindomesticpolitics.

Killedoff the Dialogue with the USA

Thelastyearhas beendisappointingor Iran.TheUSAhasdictateddevelopments.



434* MIDDLEEASTJOURNAL

Khatami's onceptof 'the dialogueof civilizations'has been shelved n favourof

the USA'sunilateral olicy.

The groups hatsupported ialoguewiththe USA thereforeost ground.

The speechchanged he basis for oint actionwiththe USA. In the new context, he

ideaof dialogueacquired differentmeaning rombefore,whichunderminedhe

positionof those whosupported ialoguewith theUSA.

ThephraseBushusedhas meant hat hemoderatesmust o a muchgreaterdegree

thanpreviouslydefendall positive steps they supportn the relationshipwiththe

USA and n internationalolicy.

In such a situation,he reformerswill not advocatedialoguewith theUSA either.In the lightof the collaborationwith the USA, the reformers ave takenover the

conservatives'rgumentshat he USA cannotbe trusted.

It has weakenedhepositionof thosewhosupport detentewith the USA.

TheIranian oliticianswho wantdialoguewith the USA see theirchanceas gone.

Theideais now dead.

Thephrasecamestraight fter he collaboration etween he USA and Iran n Af-

ghanistan.The sense of betrayalwasstrong.

Iranianswhowerepreviouslyneutral o theUSAhaveunfortunatelyhanged heir

viewsandare nowagainst he USA.

Withgreat satisfaction, heynote that the Axis of Evil is a slapin the face of all

those who trustedhe USA.

I think hat he Axis of Evil hasdestroyedhe foundationora normalized elation-

shipbetweenIranandthe USA.

A Godsendto the Conservativesand Ultra-conservatives

Butwe shouldrememberhat heconservatives, y maintainingheenmitywiththe

USA, arenotexclusivelyconcernedwithscoringdomesticpoints.Thefact is that

theytoowantto negotiate.Theproblem s, however,hat n Iran, actional ighting

is still moreimportanthannational nterests.By exploitingBush's statementsn

domesticpolitics,the conservatives levated actionalconflictovernational nter-

ests.

Religious groups,thosewho exercisereligiousandpoliticalpower,have had the

greatestbenefit rom hespeech.Thespeechwasperceived saninsult o thevalues

of the Iranian eopleandfor thatreason aused heIraniansorallyaroundhe reli-

giousvalues.This reaction trengthenedheconservative roups.The mobilization

of religiousandconservativedeas wasstrengthened y the fact thatBush'sspeech



WHATTHEAXIS OF EVILMETAPHORDID TOIRAN * 435

camerightbeforeourcelebrationf the23'd nniversaryf the IslamicRevoluion.27Thismade t easier o getmassesof peopleonto thestreetsanddemonstrategainstwhatBush said andthisbenefitedhe conservativeorces n society.

Therightwing profitedrom heAxis of Evil.Thelanguageused ntheconservativenewspaperKayhans nowthe sameasduring hewarwithIraq,violentandblood-thirsty.Realityis presentedn a way thatrequires he country o be in continualpreparedness,he citizens mustbe on guardand form a common rontagainst he

enemyat thegates.Theconservatives reusingtheAmericannitiativeoeliminateoroppress heopposition.

When heUSA,on the basisof itspositionof power, nsultsanation, ecurityques-tionsacquire place nnational oliticsat theexpenseof topicssuchasfreedomor

the citizens.Thegroups hat upportedpenness ndomesticpolicy .. thereforeostground.The ultra-conservativeaction s criticalof the government nd the statebenefited romBush'sspeech.

PresidentClintonandSecretaryof StateMadeleineAlbrightwere of a differentmetal thanBush.The wayBush is going, he is pouringoil on the flamesof anti-Americanism.He is givingthefundamentalistshelpinghand.Mr.Bushhas exhib-ited a lack of interestnprotectingivil society,civilrights,and hedevelopmentfpoliticalpartiesn Iran.On thebasis of Bush'sstatements,heconservativeswantto introduce stateof emergencyn Iran.

The fact thatBushmade a distinctionn his speech betweenthe electedand thenon-electedelementsof the government ould havebeen used by the reformers.Theycouldhaveplayedon this distinctionandso strengthenedheirposition nIranian olitics.Instead, heycollaboratedwiththeforcesof thedictatorship. heright-wingersmmediatelyawthedanger hat hesupportersf religiousdictator-shipin Iranandthe Talibanmightbe portrayed s birdsof a feather,andthusthattheymightsuffer hesamefate as theTaliban.Topreventhis,theyrealized hat nthis situation hey neededsupport romKhatami, nd it turnedout thatKhatami

waseasytoplayfor a sucker.Thereformers'trategic lunderwasdueto anuncon-sciousxenophobia. t was thisthatpreventedhemfromreaping hebenefitsof asituationhatcould havestrengthenedheforcesof democracyn Iran.

Intheconservative amp herearethosewhohavebenefitedrom hephrase.

The phrasegoes in the conservatives'avor.If the verbalhostilitiesbetweentheUSA andIrancontinue, hey will strengthen he conservative orcesat the nextelection.

The conservatives ndthe ultra-conservatives,ho - in contradistinctiono thereformerswhowantdialogue basetheirpolicyonhostilerelationswiththeUSAandwill clearlybenefit romBush'sspeech.AfterAfghanistan, ranexpected hatthe dialoguewiththe USA wouldget windin its sails,butthencamethe speechthatgave the right-wingershe chanceto say, 'If theywantto hurtus, thenwe'llhurt hem.'

27.January9 andFebruary 1,2002,respectively.



436* MIDDLEEASTJOURNAL

Theextremeightwing orceshavederiveddvantagerom heAxisofEvil.

Theconservatives'ssiduously-usedrgumenthat heUSA s hostile o Iranhasbeen trengthened.

Thespeechhasstrengthenedherightwing orces n Iran.Theeffectof thestate-mentwasextensive ecauset wounded ationaleelings hateveryonehares.Bushassaultedpeople,heir ulture,nd heireelings.

Theconservativeselcomedhespeechwithopenarms.

Iranianonservativesave lutchedhephraseo their reasts. ushhasgivenhemthe dealammunition.

ForIran, ll interferenceyforeign owerss theworsthing maginable.WhenBushused heterm heAxisofEvil, twasas if hehitthemoderateorces n Iranwitha hammer.

Discussion

The WTCattacksandsubsequentAmericanpolicyhave had a decisive effect on

Iraniandomesticpolitics.Iranianhatred s not reserved or "theGreatSatan."There

are fierceconflictsamongIraniansas well. Society is fragmented,with destructivefactional ightingbetweensupportersf therevolutionary homeinidogmasandthose

who wanta modemIranwith the ruleof law andfreedomof expression.

Onlytwo of the respondents ismissed he Axis of Evil rhetoricas havingfew

consequences or Iranianpolitics.Oneclaimedthat no Iranianactionhadexploitedthespeech nitsowninterest,aseveryone alliedround heflag,whileanother aid thattheonlybeneficiarywastheexiledopposition, hePahlavists, ivingthemhopeforim-minentregimechange.Everyone lse considered hat hephrasehadhad anenormousimpacton thetugof warbetween heconservatives ndreformers.

Somerespondents int thattherearegroups n Iranian ocietywhichhopefor abitof outsidehelpingettingridof thedictatorship. t thesametime,abloodbaths thelastthingthatthey want.Inthisperspective hepolicy of theUnitedStatesunderBillClinton,whichnowappearsohavebeenshelved,waspromising. t wasimplicit n this

policythatIrancould, by smallstepsandavoidingwar,createthe ruleof law and anIslamicversionof democracy.Fora country ike Iran,American abre-rattlingnderBushis particularlylarming, s thefragmentationf theIranian ationwill mean hatthealready rreconcilable actionswill hateone anotherall the moreandexploit theresulting haos to makea grab orpower. talsowill harmeconomicdevelopment ndcompromise ran'sabilityto deterother attacks.The anxiety the liberalrespondentsfeel leads several o contemplate xile.

TheAxis of Evilledto realfear,notonlyamong hereformers utalsoamong heconservatives.Tworespondentsonsideredhat hespeechhadstrengthenedeformistforcesbybadlyscaring heconservatives. ccording o thesetworespondents,onser-vativeswereconvinced hattheUnitedStateswouldsooneror laterattack ran.Theyrealized hatwith thethreatof anAmericanmilitaryattackhangingoverIran,perhapswith a view to a Pahlavirestoration,his was no time forideologicaladventures rthe




politicsof symbolism.Thus,conservatives, ccordingo thesetworespondents,oneddownthe anti-American hetoric rom the Revolutionand,afraidthat the reformerswouldgettheupperhand,bit the bulletandoffered hemameasure f compromise nd

cooperation.However, his "Tehran pring"wasverybrief:As soonas theconserva-tivesfelt they heard hedanger-overiren,theyexploitedBush'sspeechforall it wasworth.

Our nterviews hussuggestthattheAmericanwarningo Iranembeddedn theAxis of Evilspeechgaveconservativesauseandresulted ngreaternationalunity.An-otherconsequence f thespeechwas thealienation f reformers.Theymet theconser-

vativeshalf-way,witha suddenlydecreased nthusiasm ornormalizationf relations

witha country hathadbetrayed,hreatened,nd nsulted hem n thismanner.

According o therespondents,he Bushspeechupsetthepositivetrend hathad

begun n Iranian olitics,suchas a moreopenattitude o theinternationalommunityand a normalization f relationswith the UnitedStates.There was muchtalkof the"objective"lliancebetween he twocountriesn overthrowingheTaliban ndrecon-structing heAfghangovernment.This,theythink,demonstratedheusefulness o thesuperpower f havinggoodrelationswith Iran.With helaunching f the Axis of Evil,however,all this was put on ice, andwill not be takenout againfor a long time. To

stigmatizea countryn thatwaywasseenas a deeplyhostileact.

Strongandpassionate s therespondents'enseof betrayalwas,thesuddendeathof the dialoguewith the UnitedStateswas neverthelessnot the highest-scoring f-fect of theAxis of Evil. Thatwas reserved or the balefuleffect on Iran'sdomesticfactional ighting.There s a massiveconsensus hatthespeechwas a godsend o theconservatives, evitalizing he bloodthirsty nti-Americanhetoric romthe days oftheRevolution.The conservativesook thespeechas the finalproof thattheirenemyimageof theUnitedStateshadbeenrightall along,andthatthereformers,withtheirwishfordialogue,were naive.And it is veryhard orthereformerso arguewiththis,as mostpeoplewill perceive heAxis of Evil to be insultinganddegrading.Someoftherespondents tated t wastheviolence-pronendcoup-plotting ltra-conservatives

whoprofitedmostof all fromBush'schoiceof words.

CONCLUSION

In this articlewe focused on domesticIranianpolitics andthe impactthereof9/l 1 andtheAxisof Evil.Therespondentswerequiteupbeatnregardsothefirst, ee-ing it as strengtheningraniannationalunityandbringingcoherence o thecountry'sforeignpolicy.Further,he WTCattacksandIran'sprompt ondemnationmeant hatthe Iranian"fundamentalists"ereno longerseenas theworstthatIslamhad to offer.

Regarding heimpacton theIranianactorsof theAxis speechspecifically,heresultswerequiteunambiguous. tinyminority awit ashelping hereformers rthePahlav-istexiles, a largerminority mphasizedheway it scaredoroffended heconservativesandreformersntocollaboratingwiththeothercamp,buttherewas anoverwhelmingconsensus hat t hadbothkilled thenascentdialoguewiththeUnitedStatesandcomeas a godsend o theconservatives ndtheultra-conservatives.

Themetaphorargetsentirecountries,nottheir eaders.Itdoes notdifferentiatebetween heevil leadersandthe otherswholive in thecountry.Thereformers,or ex-




ample,did not want o be viewed asevil,butthemetaphor ainted hemwith the same

brushof evil; they resistedbyjoiningwith the conservatives ndrallyingaround he

government. n otherwords,themetaphormobilized he entirecountry including

"friends" f the US. We also would remarkhat,whileGreatPowersknow that theirown citizensforgettheirdifferencesandrallyto the flagwhenattacked, hey always

seem to havedifficultyunderstanding hy this might also be the case for theiren-

emies.

Inconclusion,we wouldpointout that he crafters f a rhetorical evice ntended

to function n one culturalandpoliticalcontexthaveonly imperfect ontrolover how

that deviceis receivedandexploited n an alienculturalandpoliticalcontext.Thisis

exactlywhatwe havewitnessedwith dramatichanges n thepoliticalcontextafter he

metaphorwas originallyarticulated. ince then therehasbeenonedramaticnterven-

ing event,theWar n Iraq.Theimpactof this event is too well known,discussed,andanalyzed o dwell furtheruponit here.Sufficeto say thattheWar n Iraqhasbeena

realitycheck on what a superpoweran and cannotachieve n theregion.The War n

Iraqhasbeen a learning xperienceor a wholeglobalaudiencehaving ochangemany

of its pre-warperceptions f a superpower eing graduallyweakenedn its self-image

as well as weakenedn theeyes of the world.

Withthisdramaticallyhanging ituation,PresidentBush hasstoppedusingthe

metaphor.With the changingcontext,the metaphorhas beenemptiedof its original

meaning;ts original ourcehaslost its rhetorical orce.Butthechangingcontexthas

given the metaphornew meaning o thosepeopleand countries t was originally n-

tended o discredit.Now it goes to demonstrate owthe"evilUS"couldlabela whole

country ike Iranas evil. It is notat all surprisinghat the rightwing of the Revolu-

tionaryGuardaffiliatedwith MahmudAhmadinejadikes to repeat his metaphor s

anexampleof what satanic orcesthe US represents.Thisalso is anexampleof how

a senderof any given messagecan lose controlover its furtheruse. New senderscan

resend t in a form that s quitecontraryo whattheoriginalsender ntended. t is not

evennecessaryor thenewsenders otryto createnewmeanings,because hechanging

politicalcontexthasalreadygivenit newmeaning.Ourrespondentsmadesomeappropriateredictions bout heshort-term ffects

of themetaphornIran.What heydid notforesee,however,was its long-term ffect.It

is still with us in politicalspeecheseverywhere. t has been seizedas a rhetorical ool

by many nourglobalvillage.Theeffect of themetaphoror the domesticdevelopment

in Iranhas,for all those working or democracy ndthe ruleof lawinsidethe country,

been a disaster einforced y the turnof events.

GeorgeW.Bush,if not rememberedoranything lse, will certainlybe remem-

bered orgivingtheworld he skillfulbutmisguided onstruction f the metaphor,he

Axis of Evil. It has become a powerful hetorical ool for mobilizing he ultra-conser-vativeand anti-democraticorcesin Iran.The metaphor lso hasbecome a stumbling

block forBush,as well as for the effortof theUnitedStates o createa betterworld.




APPENDIX

LIST OF RESPONDENTS

1. BahmanFarmanara:. 1942.Studiedactingin Englandat the age of 16 andthen

studied ilmmakingn theUS at theUniversity f SouthernCalifornia.Hereturnedo

Iran o work n IranianTV.ReturnedotheUS andCanada etween1980-1990,where

heranseveral ilmcompanies.Hehas made ivefeature ilms,themostrecentof which

areSmellof Camphor;centofJasmineandHouse BuiltonWater.

2. SadeghZibaKalam:b. 1948.Studied ngineeringn LondonandreceivedhisPh.D.

atBradford,UK,onthe IranianRevolution.Heis aprofessor f PoliticalScience ntheFacultyof Lawand PoliticalScienceat TehranUniversity.

3. FarhadAtaie:b. 1953.Ph.D. nNearEasternStudies romtheUniversity f Califor-

nia,Berkeley.Professorof Economicsat ImamSadeghUniversity.

4. Anonymousplaywright.

5. AbadollahMolaei:Directorof Euro-Americantudiesat the Institute or Political

andInternationaltudies,Tehran.

6. SeyedKazemSajjadpour: h.D. from the US. DirectorGeneralof theInstituteorPoliticalandInternationaltudies,Tehran.

7. MahmudSarioghlam: ducatedn theUnitedStates,he is aprofessor ntheFacultyof EconomicsandPoliticalScience,ShahidBeheshtiUniversitynIranandthe headoftheCenter or ScientificResearch ndStrategicStudiesof theMiddleEast.

8. HamidReza Jalaiepour:One of the most activereformistournalists,he was in-volvedwithmost of thenow-closednewspapers,ncluding ame'ehandmostrecently

Bonyan.

9. FarshidFarzin:b. 1967. He is an M.A.candidaten theFacultyof LawandPoliticalScienceof TehranUniversity,workingon his thesison International awandSatelliteLegislation.He is also a consultanto AtiehBaharconsultancyirm.

10.AmirMohebian:He is a columnist or theconservative ewspaperResalatand is

consideredo be themostvocalspokespersonortheconservativeide.

11.Mohammad li Najafi:b. 1945.He hasan M.A.inarchitecture. e alsohasdirect-ed several ilmsandtelevision eries.Hisarchitecturalirm s responsibleordesigninga mosqueand a cultural enter n Tehran.

12. SiamakNamazi:b. 1971. He receivedhis M.A. in UrbanPlanning romRutgersUniversityandhas lived in Iransince 1999. He is the RiskandStrategicManagement




Directorat Atieh BaharConsulting n Tehran.

13. Hadi Semati:b. 1960. He receivedhis Ph.D. in PoliticalScience from the Univer-

sityof Tennesseen Knoxville.Spent1978-1980inthe UnitedStates, henreturnedoIran,wherehe did his military erviceandworked or theForeignMinistry.He spent

1985-1993 in theUS andcurrentlyeachesat theUniversity f Tehran, acultyof Law

and PoliticalScience.

14. HatamGhaderi:Professorof Political Philosophyat Tehran'sTeacherTraining

University.

15. AhmadZeydabadi: . 1965.Ph.D.candidatenTehranUniversity'sFacultyof Law

andPoliticalScience.His dissertations onreligionandthe state nIsrael.Heworksasajournalistn theForeignDesk of Hamshahri nd variousothernewspapers.He was

in prison or seven months n 2001 and was recentlysentenced o 23 monthsplus five

yearsprohibitionrom ournalistic ctivity.

16. FarhadFirouzi:Previous ditorof theweekly ournalKarnami. ndependent riter

andauthor.

17. IbrahimAsgharzadeh: . 1955. Studiedelectricalengineeringat Sharif Univer-

sity and became partof the studentmovementbeforethe Revolution.He was one

of the main US hostage-takers nd was an MP in the thirdparliament.He is cur-

rentlyan elected memberof the TehranCity Council and an outspokenreformer.

18. SeyyedIbrahimNabavi:b. 1958.He is Iran'smostpopular atiristwhosenewspaper

columnsappear egularlyn the mainstream nd reformistpress.He was imprisoned

for his writingsandcurrentlyunshispopularwebsite,http://www.nabavionline.com.

heradstveit bonham (2007) - what the axis of evil metaphor did to iran

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