Here’s how the Clinton administration dealt with a POW situation in Somalia. It sent Ambassador Robert Oakley to urge Aideed’s forces to release the captured pilot—or else. “The minute the guns start again,” Oakley said, “all restraint on the U.S. side goes. Just look at the stuff coming in here now. An aircraft carrier, tanks, gunships… The works. Once the fighting starts, all this pent-up anger is going to be released. This whole part of the city will be destroyed, men, women, children, camels, cats, dogs, goats, donkeys, everything. . . . That would be really tragic for all of us, but that’s what will happen.” We got the pilot back. I’m not endorsing making similar threats now (one of our great assets is how humanely we’ve conducted this war—and, besides, who would want to so threaten Iraqi camels and goats?), but I’ve just been thinking of the Oakley episode over the last couple of days. It deserves a special spot in the annals of American bluster.