PENTAGON WATCH : New World Order?

The acerbic comedian Lenny Bruce used to joke that if evil disappeared from the world, “I’d be out of work” . . . and the director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, “would be right behind me in the unemployment line.”

That was considered outlandish humor in the 1950s, when Hoover was a powerful man in Washington and the country was deep in a Cold War against what truly seemed an “evil empire.” Now some government officials who dedicated their careers to fighting that evil are wondering what to do next.

The quick U.S. victory in the Persian Gulf War made it obvious that there are no other powers in the world that can rival the Pentagon’s military might. The question now is what should America’s military posture be? One draft scenario under discussion in the Pentagon--and released prematurely to the press--proposes to maintain a defense establishment so big, costly and daunting that U.S. foreign policy, backed by the might of the world’s sole superpower, wouldn’t need to bother with allies, alliances or even the United Nations. Washington could more or less do whatever it liked because no one would be able to stop it.

Pentagon spokesmen are quick to point out this is just a draft proposal, not official U.S. policy. But it has agitated more than a few U.S. allies abroad and members of Congress. The sooner President Bush makes it clear this is not what he has in mind when he talks about a “new world order” the better. The proposal in this draft report is outlandish enough even for Lenny Bruce.