We know it was reported that French fighter jets pounded Islamist supply bases in northern Mali. We know that the U.S. is providing military transport to help move French troops and equipment and flying refueling missions.

We don't know what we don't know about the depth of American involvement there and elsewhere.

What else don't we know? What is in America's "national interest" to become involved in the strife in Mali? Why is it our business (or that of the French) if Islamists in Mali have taken control of the northern portion of that country? (For that matter, what was our "national interest" in Libya?) Why don't the media report, in detail, the number of Malian civilians, the number of children, killed as "collateral damage" in those American-assisted jet attacks and the rest of the French adventure in Mali, as they do, for instance, in the Arab-Israeli conflict?

Why do we allow the media to set the agenda of what does, or does not, become of major interest to the citizens of the United States and the rest of the free world?

William Bilek

Hilton Head Island