we often assume that others sec the world the same way that we do. Many Americans could not understand why other countries did not see Saddam Hussein as a threat in the way that the Bush administration and a majority of Americans did. Any future crisis with Iran and North Korea, the other two members of the axis of evil, could find the same perceptual gap. A survey in 2003 found that of Americans considered Iran a threat to regional stability and saw North Korea in the same way. By contrast, in the other 20 countries surveyed, only 40% believed Iran to be a force for instability and just 47% perceived North Korea in that light.