Remember the Axis of Evil?

North Korea and Iran have worked closely together to manufacture events in the runup to this election.

The apparent test detonation of a nuclear weapon by Kim Jong-Il at this moment, a few weeks before U.S. Congressional elections, serves several purposes for our enemies:

1. It undermines Bush's standing among Americans on the subject of national security.

2. It increases the likelihood that Republicans will lose control of Congress in November, thus weakening and distracting the Bush administration, which will spend a significant amount of time and effort dealing with Democrat-led investigations on the road to impeachment hearings for Bush.

3. It draws attention and possibly military resources away from the Middle East, where the Tehran-led insurgency has struggled in recent months.

4. It provides a useful test case for how the U.S. and UN will respond to nuclear proliferation now that North Korea has clearly violated non-proliferation agreements.

5. It buys time for Tehran to prepare its own nuclear test.

6. It establishes that North Korean nuclear technology does in fact work, which will open up the market for same exponentially.

7. It bolsters the morale of America's enemies worldwide, and demonstrates that the Americans will not use their military power even in the face of an existential threat, but, like Gulliver tied down by Lilliputians, will instead jaw endlessly and make empty proclamations.

8. It exposes the political weakness of President Bush.

9. It demonstrates yet again that America's desires and interests do not carry weight in large swaths of the world.

10. It reinforces the weakened American position as sole global superpower and paves the way for new regional hegemons, particularly Tehran.

Make no mistake---we are losing the war.

We may yet lose a major U.S. city to nuclear terrorism.

CounterTerrorism Blog has additional information.