Things are looking bad on the whole smiting-dow-the-axis-of-evil front, WaPo reporters Peter Baker and Dafna Linza write. North Korea has developed several nuclear devices under the Bush administration watch, and Iran is briskly advancing its own (still reportedly civilian) nuclear programs. Iraq, meanwhile, well, let's just say that if we were in fact permitted to use the word "quagmire," it would save everyone a lot of time. "I'm tempted to say we're 1-2," says one administration official, "but that wouldn't be honest." Well, that's never stopped them before. . . No reports as yet on plans to rename the Axis of Evil the Surprisingly Sturdy Band of Freedom-Hating Nukes-Deploying Advocates of Violent Extremism. -- HOLLY MARTINS

U.S. Policy on "Axis of Evil" Suffers Spate of Setbacks [Washington Post]