BY KAREN MACK
UCLA Today Staff

The emergence of terrorism and the “axis of evil” as the principal threats to America’s national interests has reshaped U.S. foreign and defense policy, Chancellor Albert Carnesale said in a lecture April 9 in Dodd Hall.

Carnesale, whose scholarly focus is international security and arms control, was the first guest speaker in an Honors Collegium course, “The U.S. and the World Since 9/11,” offered by the Ronald W. Burkle Center for International Relations. Open to the public, the course is being team-taught by Burkle Center Director Geoffrey Garrett, vice provost of the UCLA International Institute, and Associate Director Steven Spiegel.

“There has been a revolution in U.S. national security,” Carnesale said. “We are now the world’s sole superpower economically and militarily. In this new world we are less limited by our capabilities than at any time in the past.”

The collapse of the Soviet Union had left the United States without a principal adversary for the first time in its history, Carnesale asserted, “and so we had no organizing principle for our foreign policy, no simple pattern that would explain which conflicts we got into and which we did not.”

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 changed all that, he said. “If you ask who threatens our survival today, the response would be terrorists and the ‘axis of evil,’ defined by President Bush as Iraq, Iran and North Korea.”

As Baghdad began succumbing to American forces, Carnesale described the Iraqi conflict as one of four wars the United States is waging to protect its vital interests. In addition to the “war of soldiers” in Iraq, he said, the United States is engaged in a “war of shadows” against terrorism, a “war of speeches” with North Korea and a “war of silence” with Iran.

Combating terrorism is a “war of shadows” because “terrorism is generally carried out by non-state actors with no single homeland that can be attacked in retaliation,” Carnesale noted.

The Bush administration has set a number of goals for the “war of soldiers” in Iraq, including regime change. “Regime change is not a sufficient rationale for starting a war, but our success in Iraq could have positive repercussions for the region,” the chancellor said.

With American and British military objectives largely achieved, Carnesale noted, “what’s next is the hard part, and that’s the nature of governance. For how long will there be a military occupation? What will be the U.N. role? Will there be a transition to democracy, and if so, will democracy spread through the Middle East?”

While weapons of mass destruction had not been found in Iraq as of April 9, their specter is complicating America’s dealings with North Korea and Iran, he said. Given that North Korea is capable not only of producing nuclear weapons, but may already have one or two, Carnesale maintained that “diploma-cy remains the least-bad option” — hence the “war of speeches.”

Iran has a facility that could be used to produce fuel for power plants, but also could be used to produce highly en-riched uranium for bombs. But the United States lacks formal relations with Iran, making diplomacy difficult and prompting what Carnesale characterizes as a “war of silence.”

“Our best source of wisdom for new ideas and better policies is an informed, better-educated citizenry,” Carnesale said. “And so to the students in this room I say, we’re counting on you.”