A WAR without end. That's what George W. Bush is aiming for. "Thousands of dangerous killers, schooled in the methods of murder, often supported by outlaw regimes, are now spread throughout the world like ticking time bombs," Bush warned in his State of the Union address last week. "We must pursue them wherever they are."

And Bush means "wherever." In his address, the commander in thief focused on Iran, Iraq and North Korea--christening them the new "axis of evil."

Exactly what connects these three countries was left unclear. But the message is unmistakable: The U.S. is the world's cop and will do anything it wants--anywhere.

Bush didn't even try to justify his expanded "war on terror" as a way of seeking "justice" for the victims of the September 11 attacks. He simply wants to ensure the ability of the U.S. to intervene against any country that steps out of line.

After the speech, Washington's warlords were quick to applaud. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld provided the "evidence" against Iran--its government is allowing al-Qaeda terrorists to slip across its "porous" borders.

Secretary of State Colin Powell put North Korea on the hit list for allegedly selling nuclear weapons. Former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea James Lilley chimed in with his assessment of the North Koreans: "They are as cunning and manipulative a people as any I've seen, especially in dealing with Americans."

No one even bothered to justify Bush's targeting of Iraq. Since September 11, the Pentagon has searched far and wide to find a reason to wage an all-out war on Iraq.

And it's a bipartisan war drive. Among the most rabid Iraq haters is Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), Al Gore's running mate in Election 2000, who recently promised that the war on terrorism won't be over "until the toppling of the Saddam regime in Baghdad." So it was no surprise when U.S. and British planes dropped bombs on northern Iraq earlier this week, the first attacks since September 11.

How dare the U.S.--the world's leading purveyor of arms and violence--point the finger at countries like Iraq, which Bush's father proudly bombed "back into the Stone Age"? If Bush wants to go after the "source of evil," he can set his sights on the government whose insistence on a decade of crippling economic sanctions has killed more than half a million Iraqi children.

Bush says "freedom is at risk," and he's right. Because since September 11, Bush and his own "axis of evil"--Dick Cheney, John Ashcroft and Donald Rumsfeld--think that they can do anything they want. From bombing and starving the people of Afghanistan, to the barbaric prison camp in Guantánamo Bay, to the attack on civil liberties and immigrants at home.

And they want working people to pay--and pay and pay--for a $48 billion increase in the Pentagon's already bloated budget, while funds for job training and poverty programs get axed.

We have to get out the truth about Bush's never-ending war--and organize an opposition. Thousands of people across the country stood up against the war in the face of a wave of Bush's flag-waving. We have to continue to build that fight--wherever Bush takes his war.

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