First things first

President George W. Bush made it clear in his State of the Union address that the next phase of the United States' war against terrorism will be against old adversaries.

But far from looking to the next target, the U.S. should be thinking about unfinished business and perhaps even turning towards its own security problems.

By naming Iraq, Iran and North Korea as "evil" terrorist nations for producing weapons of mass destruction, Bush made it clear who America's next targets were. That he should provide no evidence is not surprising in light of how the war in Afghanistan was conducted, but that he should name old foes already on the U.S. list of states sponsoring terrorism hints at Washington clutching at straws as to what to do next.

Iraq is "unfinished business" to the Bush family. Bush's father, as president, overturned Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in the 1991 Gulf War, but failed to fulfill his promise to topple President Saddam Hussein.

The 1950-1953 Korean War created two Koreas, one friendly and the other still undefeated and defiant despite the presence of 70,000 U.S. troops in South Korea.

Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program is believed to have been neutralized by a deal with the U.S. and Japan and the war against terrorism and the global economic slowdown have effectively put paid to its missile export market. Relations with the Bush administration are frosty.

Iran has been fully co-operative in dealing with events in neighboring Afghanistan. A backer of the victorious Northern Alliance, it has also had to deal with up to three million Afghan refugees on its soil. There is no logical reason for its Government to support bin Laden or to help al-Qaeda.

The first phase of the war against terrorism is far from over and must be taken care of before Washington opens new and unproven fronts. Bush may have committed his military to a cause, but it must be just and transparent and not merely a case of settling old scores.

-- South China Morning Post. Hong Kong