Oliver North : Failing the Test

WASHINGTON -- "Can we all get along? … Let's try to work it out." That was Rodney King's plaintive plea in May 1992, after his highly controversial confrontation with the Los Angeles Police Department led to arson and anarchy. Now, 17 years later, the Obama administration apparently has made "get along" its response to every national security test. So far, it has been the wrong answer.

Since Mr. Obama's announced his deadline for pulling U.S. combat troops out of Iraq, there has been a spike in violence in the Land Between the Rivers. His decision to "open a direct dialogue" with the theocrats ruling in Tehran has yielded thus far an Iranian satellite launch -- using North Korean ICBM technology -- a check ride on Iran's Russian-built Bushehr nuclear plant, and, just in case we didn't get the message, rejected visa applications for the U.S. women's badminton team.

"Nice guy" diplomacy hasn't worked very well elsewhere, either. Pakistan replied to the administration's "let's get along" overture by allowing......