The phrase ‘axis of evil’ is stupid for so many reasons it’s difficult to get into all of them, but this one is my favorite:

It directly invites a comparison between three tinpot dictatorships and two of the most vicious regimes ever spawned by man - and, by seeing it fit to append ‘of evil’, adds just a little bit extra.

Long story short: Saddam Hussein’s aluminum tube purchase was a second Holocaust - but this time, it’s personal.