Editorials:
CONTENTS COMMOMWEAL Volume CXX, Number 19 Correspondence: ...
...10038...
...Mistakes will be made...
...New York, N.Y...
...The meeting was on how to if those gains are to be preserved...
...I don't think Saint Tarsicius came into my mind then-not even the pope mentions him in the new encyclical's long disquisition on martyrdom-but the young martyr was with me that night...
...will not generate the kind of domestic support necessary to (I had given them eight singles...
...Portland, Me...
...as a defensive measure and announcing a March 31 pull-out date for U.S...
...Bush rejected the UN's request to disarm the various Senior Writer: Robert G. Hoyt clans and for an extended American military commitment to help build democracy Business Manager: Richard Haas in Somalia...
...And I was relieved again, followthe UN can do little...
...Clinton's commitment to a troop pull-out suggests that the U.S...
...CONTENTS COMMOMWEAL Volume CXX, Number 19 Correspondence: 2 Editorials: 3 Notebook: Patrick Jordan 4 Multiculturalism is here: John Francis Burke 5 Anti-abortion racketeers?: Edward McGlynn Gaffney, Jr...
...commitments in difficult and dangerous circum- "Yes...
...participation at some level meeting at our son's high school...
...The They yelled at the fugitives who went scurrying into the night...
...If Clinton succumbs to the temptation to all but abandon U.S...
...Without the U.S...
...10038...
...As a journalist for this biweekly, I had obtained an adto act unilaterally, but to build on the efforts of the Organization vance copy of the encyclical, one I was pledged to defend with of American States and the UN to restore democracy to Haiti...
...Tradition says that Tarsicius was stopped, searched, and beaten t is not often that I travel by train late at night, partic- to death in third-century Rome for carrying a concealed host to ularly while carrying a contraband document...
...and UN presence in Somalia...
...Except for Mogadishu, peace and relNo Other Life: Paul Elie 25 ative order have been established throughout what was once a land The Wrath of Nations: Ivan Sanders 26 of anarchy and horrific suffering...
...woman who would later become my wife and I were I felt like a skinned tomato that had been pummeled with hot strolling hand-in-hand on a Saturday evening when another cou- pepper...
...6 Turning wine into vinegar: Liz Leibold McCloskey The moral vision of Robert Stone: James Finn 9 Screen: Richard Alleva 14 Media: Frank McConnell 18 Missteps Stage: Gerald Weales 20 Nancy Mairs's Book of Hours: Alane Salierno Mason 22 Despite the tragic deaths of eighteen American soldiers in Mogadishu last month, the United States and UN efforts in Somalia have in fact BOOKS accomplished a near miracle...
...for the operation in Somalia, the situation there may quickly revert to open warfare...
...Clinton's subsequent mean the pope was boycotting someone or something, but that initiation of a renewed naval blockade of Haiti as well as the the contents of the forthcoming encyclical were not to be diseizure of Haitian assets in the U.S...
...A million lives may have been saved...
...But they thought I must be holding out on them...
...When President George Bush sent American Editor: Margaret O'Brien Steinfels Managing Editor: Patrick Jordan troops to Somalia in 1992 he defined the mission in strictly humanitarian terms...
...involvement 11 Graffam Rd., So...
...Whatever the limitations of Bush's policy, it was reasonably clear...
...In the Stage: Gerald Weales aftermath of the killing of twenty-four Pakistani soldiers by General Aidid's men Poetry: Rosemary Deen last June, the UN mission turned from peacekeeping into a manhunt...
...But Aidid's position Abigail McCarthy, David R. Carlin, Jr., as a clan leader in the midst of what remains a barely dormant civil war made the Sidney Callahan, Liz Leibold McCloskey, Edward McGlynn Gaffney, Jr...
...American foreign policy must allow for decisive action energetic youths who proceeded to spray me in the face with but leave room for flexibility in an uncertain international en- Mace...
...Without that U.S...
...Given the vulged, publicized, or quoted prior to its official publication history of U.S.-Latin American relations, Clinton is right not date...
...As the subsequent softening of the Publisher: Edward S. Skillin U.S.'s attitude toward Aidid indicates-we are now ready to talk with him-only a Commonweal, [ISSN 0010-3330] A Review of political compromise that includes the clan leader will bring an end to the turmoil Public Affairs, Religion, Literature, and the Arts, is in Mogadishu...
...The honor of journalDEFENDER OF THE FAITH GETS MACED ism demanded it...
...become a more violent and unstable place and any movement "What's in your briefcase...
...is Dutch St...
...with many similar political and humaniUnsolicited manuscripts are welcome but must be tarian crises...
...ing the presentation, when another train idled by and got me The same ambiguity has marked Clinton's approach to Haiti...
...POSTMASTER: Send address changes to washing its hands of Somalia...
...forces...
...my life until October 5. Unlike Kathleen, the encyclical could Foreign policy in the post-cold war world will take time and not protect itself, but I hadn't considered that when I took it much effort to work out...
...And it's imprisoned Christians...
...Telephone: (212) 732-0800...
...I even thought and escaped...
...As the UN's lim- ried a few months later...
...The meeting had been full of gallows Indeed, events in Haiti, which blindsided the administration with- humor, but it had achieved its purpose: I was now prepared to in days of the American deaths in Somalia, appeared to be an sign on for a life of perpetually indentured servitude to the coleerie replay of Clinton's reactive approach...
...Much has was happy one night this September when a Staten Island Rapid already been achieved in Somalia, but Clinton must forceful- Transit train arrived promptly and transported me to a parents' ly make the case for continued U.S...
...correspondence should be sent to Ruth E. Taylor, Can what has been achieved in Somalia be sustained without U.S...
...ited but nevertheless significant recent success in conducting I don't like waiting for trains-it's something about Anna free elections in Cambodia suggests, patient international in- Karenina, I suppose-especially on deserted platforms...
...Embargoed in this case did not Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide...
...Apparently Columnists: John Garvey, J. Bryan Hehir, without much deliberation, the U.S...
...When my eyes cleared and I was able to get knife in my back...
...one shouted, applying a second toward an effective multilateralism will be stillborn...
...In fact, the last time was al Christians emerging from a bowling alley came to my rescue...
...So I tervention can work, even amid political violence...
...After stances...
...Once again the ad- lege of our son's choice...
...This time there were no inquiries about the proach, his actions will appear merely ad hoc, and as such they hour, just basic economics: "Is that all the money you have...
...Outrage Jean Bethke Elshtain 30 over the killing of American soldiers by warlord Muhammad Farrah Aidid's clansBody & Soul: Rand Richards Cooper 33 men is understandable, but loose talk about the "meaninglessness" of the deaths of Unfaithful Angels/From Cradle to Grave Patricia A. O'Connell 35 soldiers engaged in this extraordinary enterprise strikes us as misguided, even opportunistic...
...Until Clinton conveys a sound grasp of such an ap- on moral truths...
...Kathleen, my future wife, was carrying a week's back to the encyclical, I found I understood the pope immedigrocery money in her purse...
...And thanks to Tarsicius, just then severnot often that I get mugged...
...In taking sides in this way, no matStaff: Harriette Balsky, Carmen Alava, ter how justifiably, the UN entangled itself in a situation it had neither the military Pamela Quatse might nor the political will to resolve...
...Advertising Manager: Ruth E. Taylor Clinton has candidly admitted this mistake...
...04106 (207) 7994387, classified advertising correspondence to 15 at some level...
...nity, but came out way ahead...
...followed the UN's lead...
...ministration was unprepared for the violent resistance of en- To keep me company on the round trip, I had brought along trenched local powers, this time the Haitian military, to the UN- an embargoed copy of Pope John Paul II's yet-to-be-released and OAS-brokered political arrangement for the return of encyclical, Veritatis splendor...
...The Anatomy of Antiliberalism: Americans have every reason to be proud of this humanitarian achievement...
...But President out for the evening...
...what Clinton seems to be aiming at in simultaneously sending more troops to Somalia and monthly July and August, by Commonweal Foundation, 15 Dutch St., New York, N.Y...
...That would be a triple tragedy, fueling isolationist sentiment at home, Commonweal 5 November 1993: widespread uncertainty about American resolve abroad, and in action would have snapped her up at once, and we were maralmost certain deprivation for the Somalis...
...Kathleen came to the Emergency Room and led me ple approached, asked us for the time, and in a second had a home by the hand...
...I know Saint Francis and perhaps even the pope would have let them have it, but I had an officially embargoed encyclical A DOUBLE MUGGING and these guys were not going to get it...
...leading, finance a college education...
...Anyone who had seen Kathleen But now another mugging has begun-a legal one, it's true4: 5 November 1993 Commonweal...
...Clinton must begin to articulate for the American people, and To make a long story short, soon after getting off the train, for the international community, a coherent American posi- I was surrounded under a deserted underpass by four or five tion...
...Turning away from any further military entanglement in Somalia is published biweekly except Christmas/New Year's...
...are measured...
...support accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope...
...she fended off the female assailant ately when he wrote about intrinsically evil acts...
...The Associate Editor: Paul Baumann U.S...
...I lost my wallet, a couple of dollars, and my dig- about sending him my story, as the encyclical lacks examples...
...They obviously hadn't heard of the pope's encyclical vironment...
...But there are dangers in doing this, especially in a Commonweal, 15 Dutch St...
...back to my home station...
...STAFF To be sure, there are legitimate questions about the scope and long-term purpose of the U.S...
...was there to see that the starving were fed, not to impose a political solution Production Editor: Jacqueline Dowdell on warring Somali factions...
...policy under Bill Clinton...
...blast of Mace to my face...
...UN's decision to label him a criminal dubious...
...world that promises to present the U.S...
...Display advertising This policy, however, still leaves important questions unanswered...
...Design: Emil Antonucci Screen: Richard Alleva Unfortunately that has not been the case for U.S...
...over twenty years ago, in a New York City park...
...My work," I gasped, holding on tight as they tugged furiNOTEBOOK ously at my blue zipper bag, a gift from the aforesaid Kathleen...
...commitment, the world will only all, I was no longer looking at them in the eye...
...sustain U.S...
Vol. 120 • November 1993 • No. 19
