http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060901/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_promises_and_threatsAnalysis: Bush struggles to deliver
By TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer Fri Sep 1, 1:37 PM ET
WASHINGTON - As the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks nears,
President Bush is finding it increasingly hard to make good on foreign-policy promises or threats. The biggest source of his frustration is the "axis of evil" —
Iran,
North Korea and
Iraq — that he warned four years ago imperiled world peace.
Bush faces a daunting number of simultaneous international crises as he tries to shore up flagging support at home for the Iraq war and roll back nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea.
Sectarian violence remains rampant in Iraq, suicide attacks are increasing in Afghanistan and a truce in southern Lebanon between
Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas is wobbly. Iran and North Korea ignore his insistence that they must not have nuclear weapons.
Syria turns a deaf ear to U.S. demands that it stop supporting terrorism.
A U.N. Security Council deadline came and went on Thursday for Iran to stop uranium enrichment, yet veto-wielding Russia and China are resisting Bush's call for stiff sanctions. Likewise, six-nation talks to restrict North Korea's nuclear program have been stalled for months.
Some analysts suggest Bush has overreached, or set the bar impossibly high, laying out goals he cannot achieve — while not acknowledging blunders.