First test?

Yesterday, the Washington Post ran this article by the Associated Press about how President Obama has passed his “first national security test” ;

Yeah, he passed the test in the sense that he didn’t interfere with the same orders that every cop on the street is given before they start their beat. In the same issue of the Post, they ran this AP article; Undeterred Somali pirates hijack 3 more ships. So what national security goal has been accomplished beyond the life of a single man?

The Wall Street Journal announces this morning that Pakistan created a haven for extremist jihadists in Swat and they seem to be streaming in and creating training bases.

President Asif Ali Zardari effectively ratified the government’s deal with the Taliban Monday by signing a bill that imposes Islamic law in Swat, a key plank of the accord, hours after legislators overwhelmingly approved a resolution urging it. Pakistani officials have touted the deal, reached in February, as a way to restore peaceful order in the bloodied region — which lies just a few hours’ drive from the capital — and halt the Taliban’s advance.

Yet a visit to the Taliban-controlled valley here found mounting evidence that the deal already is strengthening the militants as a base for war. U.S. officials contend the pact has given the Taliban and its allies in al Qaeda and other Islamist groups an advantage in their long-running battle against Pakistan’s military.

The number of militants in the valley swelled in the months before the deal with the Taliban was struck, and they continue to move in, say Pakistani and U.S. officials. They now estimate there are between 6,000 and 8,000 fighters in Swat, nearly double the number at the end of last year.

So should we say that Obama has failed that portion of his test? But that’s not all – because of the weak and inaudible response to North Korea’s launch of a missile over Japan, Kin Jong Il has found the inner strength to ignore six-party talks to disarm the Norks’ nuclear program (WSJ link);

North Korea said Tuesday it would rev up its nuclear-weapons development program and pull out of the so-called “six party” diplomatic process where five other countries have tried since 2003 to persuade it to give up its pursuit of those weapons in exchange for economic help.

The country announced the decision just hours after the U.N. Security Council in New York voted to issue a statement criticizing North Korea’s April 5 launch of a missile-like rocket.

That penalty was lighter in tone and diplomatic weight than the resolutions that the Security Council passed when North Korea launched a long-range missile and tested a nuclear device in 2006. North Korea responded to those penalties by returning to the six-party bargaining table and forging a deal in early 2007 to dismantle a nuclear power plant that provided fuel for its atomic weapons.

Oh, and to prove that we’re not Bush anymore, Obama is going to fund the Castro government by lifting remittances barriers (Washington Times);

“We’re getting the United States out of the business of regulating the relationship between Cuban families,” said Dan Restrepo, the president’s top adviser on Latin American issues at the National Security Council.

“The Cuban government should get itself out of the way and allow Cuban families to support Cuban families. And that creates the kind of space, in our view, that is necessary to move Cuba forward to a free and democratic Cuba,” he said.

Yeah, that’ll happen because the Cuban government has a history of leaving Cuban families to their business. Hardly. 20% of the hard currency dollars that enter Cuba will go straight to the Fidel/Raul retirement plan. Can we call that a failure? Zombie Castro “says” Obama’s new Cuba policy doesn’t go far enough.

I’m glad that Captain Phillips is free, I’m glad Obama didn’t screw that up – but all the rest of this crap should scare the media to death – and they should say so instead of looking for nothing but positives.

Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Media, Terror War, Usual Suspects