Militarized Response to AIDS in Africa ‘Good and Bad,’ Boston Globe Columnist Writes

The fact that Secretary of State Colin Powell has classified HIV/AIDS in Africa as a national security issue is both "good news and, perhaps, bad news," James Carroll writes in a Boston Globe column. The good news, Carroll explains, is that "the American capacity to respond to a problem with serious money and real federal authority seems directly proportional to its relationship to national security concerns." When combined with a "clear self-interest," a "call to arms" usually spurs the United States into action, Carroll continues, and which is why it is important to recognize that "AIDS, even in remote places, threatens this nation as much as any conceivable threat of war." While placing the battle against HIV/AIDS in a military framework will likely prompt an elevated response, there is a "clear ... danger" in this strategy as well, Carroll writes. He states, "Some problems, once militarized, get worse, not better," adding that many aspects of the United States military "not only won't help in this effort but will positively hinder it." For example, Carroll states, "Pentagon pathologies about gays and wome