Why Annie Can't Fight

By Janice Castro

President Bush has thrown up his hands after reading the report from his PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION ON WOMEN IN THE MILITARY, and may reverse its ban on women in combat cockpits before sending the recommendations on to Congress. After a yearlong, $4 million study, the 15-member commission came up with several odd objections to women serving in combat. First of all, the report argues, women might be taken as prisoners of war. Servicewomen, who are asking for assignments in which they could be killed, have already said they are willing to risk imprisonment. The commission also insisted that if both parents in a family are in the service, one should be forced to quit. Guess which one?