Why Are We in Jolo?
IN THE PAST DECADE the United States has only twice sent ground troops into combat. The first instance, in Somalia, grew out of a humanitarian operation and ended abruptly with the first U.S. casualties. It also ended the career of the secretary of defense. The second, in Afghanistan, came in response to an attack on the United States, was approved by Congress and was thoroughly explained to the public by President Bush and his Cabinet.
Over the years the threshold for putting U.S. soldiers at risk has sometimes seemed too high: Think of the Rwandan genocide or the Balkan wars. Yet now the country appears to be drifting toward the opposite extreme.
On Thursday, via a series of background briefings by unnamed spokesmen, the Pentagon casually let the public know that it intends to dispatch 1,700 Special Forces and Marines for a combat mission against Muslim guerrillas in a remote and hostile corner of the Philippines.
We hear . . . THAT Bill Clinton is expected to come face to face with his ex-pal Denise Rich for the first time since Pardongate at the Artist Empowerment Coalition Grammy Brunch tomorrow morning at the Hilton . . .
BARBRA Streisand is good at making speeches about how pharmaceutical companies gouge AIDS patients with exorbitant drug prices, but she's even better at making a bundle speculating on their stock prices. The diva's non-profit Streisand Foundation has invested in such companies as Bristol Myers Squibb, Abbott Laboratories and Eli Lilly. Streisand's charity earned more than $17,000 from its trades in drug companies in 2000, according to papers filed with the government. A rep for the singer did not return calls. [Remind anyone of Hillary?]
I'm at a loss here, how should the Pentagon announce such a thing?
Ballons? Fireworks? Skywriting?