Ask , don't tell

According to the New York Times (article linked to title of post), the obama administration has adopted a policy of approaching and confronting North Korean vessels in order to ask permission to board them and search for cargo prohibited by the UN sanctions resolution. The Times goes on to say that force will not be used to board the vessels and they will be allowed to go on their way if permission to board is denied. The plan is for the US to follow any vessel denying permission to board and then to ask the country where the vessel goes into port to make an inspection there. In other words, Obama has now gotten rid of "don't ask, don't tell" and gone to "ask, don't tell". This has to be one of the stupidest policies adopted by the new administration, and that, indeed, is saying something.

The contraband cargoes are, for the most part, weapons. If the NK's sell nuclear technology to the Iranians, will the mullahs really inspect the cargo when it gets to port in Iran? Absolutely! And then they will issue a report stating that there was no contraband aboard. After all, if the mullahs could announce final election returns before counting the votes, it is not a big stretch to announce inspection results without actually looking at what is aboard. Indeed, no country buying weapons from the NK's will "find" those weapons in a search once the vessel is in port.

This all means that for a policy that has no hope of success, Obama is putting US sailors in harms way. the Times reports that Japan has not decided whether or not to participate in this naval action since it would possibly incur casualties were the NK's to open fire (and they are crazy enough to do so. It will be US ships that will carry out this farce. If there are casualties among US forces while carrying out this policy (and I sincerely hope and pray that there are none), will we hear the idiots on MSNBC start announcing "Obama dithered and people withered"?