Noblesse Oblige for The Sole Superpower

A PRE-WORLD WAR I AMERICAN CLICHE HAD IT THAT "the Marines have landed, and the situation is well in hand." About 1,800 U.S. Marines begin landing in Somalia this week, the advance guard of a United Nations force probably more than 17 times that size, and the situation soon may be well in hand -- so far as distribution of food to the starving goes. But much else about what George Bush called "a difficult and dangerous job" remained murky.

The mission is a striking departure for both the U.N. and the U.S. It is a peace-enforcing, not peacekeeping, operation (there is no peace to keep), mounted without invitation from a host government (there is no Somali government). Nor does the U.S. have any economic or strategic stake. On TV last Friday, Bush stressed that the U.S. interest is "humanitarian," a matter of superpower noblesse oblige. Some 1.5 million Somalis may starve to death, he said, because armed gangs have been stealing relief supplies, and "only the U.S. has the global reach" to cope with the crisis. Washington had earlier made the U.N. an offer it could not refuse: the U.S. would organize and command a U.N. force and supply most of the troops.

Bush said "about a dozen countries" would contribute troops; France made a quick offer of 1,700. The U.S. is prepared to send 28,000 Marine and Army fighters, who will secure airports, ports and roads and chase away the looters. Colin Powell, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said they could take "pre-emptive action" -- meaning shoot first if they are threatened. That is a sharp break from the usual rules for U.N. peacekeeping forces, which are allowed only to shoot back when fired upon.

Should the U.S.-led troops also disarm the war bands? U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali says yes, but Powell calls disarmament only "one method that could be used" and adds that the troops can hardly round up "every last AK-47" in Somalia. So, might the warring clans create anarchy and famine again after the U.S.-U.N. troops leave? The hope is that the combat troops can pacify the country enough for a smaller, "regular" U.N. peacekeeping force to take over. Though the U.S. would like to begin pulling out by Bill Clinton's Inauguration Jan. 20, Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney said it "would not be bound by an artificial deadline," and Powell thought the job would require "two to three months, at my best guess." Perhaps, but it could also prove much easier to get into Somalia than to get out again. (See related cover stories beginning on page 26.)