In what seemed like a replay of the national campaign of 2000, Vice
President Dick Cheney and Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph
Lieberman made back-to-back appearances in San Diego last week, with Cheney
rallying support for President George W. Bush's "axis of evil" comment and
Lieberman suggesting the president had engaged in rhetorical excess that
failed to make appropriate distinctions among Iran, Iraq and North Korea.

Cheney was first to arrive in San Diego, telling 2,500 Marines and
dependents at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar on Monday, Feb. 18, that ³the
president's remark has caused a certain amount of hand-wringing in some
quarters, but most Americans find it reassuring to have a commander in chief
who tells the truth and means exactly what he says."

He told the Marines that Iran, Iraq and North Korea "have histories of
seeking weapons of mass destruction and providing sanctuary to terrorist
organizations or selling dangerous capabilities to others."
He also said that searches of training camps and caves in Afghanistan
provided ample evidence "that Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network have
been doing everything they can to acquire nuclear, chemical and biological
weapons."

Nine Marines from Miramar, killed in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan as
a result of air plane crashes on Jan. 9 and Jan. 20, were memorialized by
the vice president during his brief remarks. "For wearing our country's
uniform and serving the nation in the hour of need, these young Americans
have an honored place in our nation's memory," Cheney said.
Lieberman, a United States senator from Connecticut, told Heritage on
Tuesday, Feb. 19, that whereas he believes military action is necessary to
oust Saddam Hussein as leader of Iraq, he believes negotiations would be
productive with North Korea.

Interviewed in a car en route to an appearance at the San Diego Jewish
Academy, Lieberman said Iran occupies a position somewhere between Iraq and
North Korea on the scale of whether military action or negotiations would be
more productive.

"They still hold elections," Lieberman said. "It is clear from the elections
that a majority of the people in Iran want change, want better relations
with the West. On the other hand, the country is still controlled by the
extremists who are anti-American, anti-Israel, and Iran remains the most
significant supporter of terrorism in the world -- in particular the
terrorist groups that are attacking Israel."

He added that the United States should try "to convince our allies not to be
deceived by the Iranians or by their own economic interest to support a
regime which doesn¹t deserve support."

Earlier in the day, Lieberman had suggested that the ³axis of evil² phrase,
which Bush used in his State of the Union message, ³took the Oaxis¹ from the
Second World War and Reagan¹s Oevil¹ from the Cold War.¹

"But seriously, it makes no sense," Lieberman added in a speech at a private
reception at the Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Carmel Valley. "It is not an
axis. All three countries have done some evil things which require a
different response."

The international situation was among the interests of high school students
at the San Diego Jewish Academy, who greeted the first Jew to be nominated
by a major party for the vice presidency with a patriotic song as they held
red, white and blue fabric to form a human U.S. flag.

In a question-and-answer session with students and adult contributors to the
day school, moderated by school president and Lieberman friend Alan Viterbi,
the senator was asked why Bush had resisted including Palestinians as
enemies in America's war against terrorism.

Lieberman responded that "in fairness to the president," it should be noted
that while Bush had omitted anti-Israel groups on his first list of
terrorist organizations, "he came back and listed some of the groups like
Hamas, Islamic Jihad that are almost daily carrying out acts of terrorism
against Israelis. 

"There is a term in some of the statements the president has written; it
says that we are going after terrorists of Oglobal reach,'" Lieberman told
the students. "That is a tough line to draw because the terrorists that are
attacking the Israelis are also violently anti-American, and give them a
chance and they will attack America, American people and American interests
and values as well."

The Democrat credited the Republican president with being "pretty tough" on
Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat "in demanding that he take action that we
would expect of any leader to stop the terrorist acts by people within his
control."

Some groups in the Palestinian Authority can be controlled by Arafat, said
Lieberman, while others like Islamic Jihad or Hamas he can't control, "but
he is the leader of a government (and) that government can arrest them and
prosecute them for crimes."

Lieberman told the San Diego Jewish Academy audience that he was impressed
during one of his trips to the Middle East by an unidentified Israeli
acquaintance who told him "this will not end until each side recognizes the
right of the other side to have a homeland here."

The senator said "a majority of Israelis clearly crossed that bridge, and
were prepared -- and I think given the right terms still are, notwithstanding
their anger and heartbreak -- to recognize the Palestinian state and
homeland. The frustration and unsettling question is whether the majority of
the Palestinians are ready to recognize a state that has existed for now 54
years almost, the state of Israel, and a lot of this is the failure of the
leadership of the Palestinian Authority.

"Chairman Arafat and those around him have continued to educate their
children to hate Israel and to think it is temporary, and until that
changes, there is not going to be real peace," Lieberman said.
"I say of the United States and the war against terrorism -- and I think it
relates to Israel as well -- that in an imperfect world, which sadly we are
living in, there is no substitute for strength. Thank God the United States
is strong and has remained strong, and Israel is too."
In the interview with Heritage, Lieberman said he found "a little glimmer of
hope" in a report published by New York Times columnist Tom Friedman that
Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia had been considering proposing that
all Arab nations agree to recognize Israel, provided Israel returned to the
borders it occupied prior to the 1967 Six Day War.
 

"While the specifics may not be acceptable to Israel, it is a least a
proposal that recognizes the need to change the status quo because the
status quo is going nowhere -- just more and more violence," Lieberman said.

He added: "I think the U.S. has to remain faithful to our principles and our
allies, and that means Israel, and continue to isolate Arafat until he does
what he said he would be doing, and continue to have ties with the
Palestinians, hoping that we can convince them to do the one thing that they
have to do to make their lives better, which is to make peace with Israel."
A student asked the senator if he faces criticism for supporting Israel
because he is a Jew.

"My obligation as a United States senator is to the Constitution of the
United States, to the people of Connecticut who chose me to represent them,
and to the interests of the United States of America," Lieberman responded.
"That is the test.

"In the particular case of the relationship between Israel and the United
States, we have been allies and we have come to see the world in similar
terms."