Yesterday, in response to the news to the news that jihadi savages had killed an American journalist on YouTube, the Obama administration revealed that there had been a special forces operation that attempted and failed to rescue James Foley. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why this was necessary information to reveal, beyond the fact that it was a cheap way of convincing the American people that Obama had been concerned about Foley’s plight. Providing political cover for the president so he can get back to hitting the links even as the personification of evil is about to seize control of a country the size of California, is not strike me as good reason to reveal what would have been secret special forces operational details.

I am no foreign policy or military expert, and given that the world is on fire at the moment, my admission of humility here makes me perhaps more qualified to discuss these matters than anyone in the White House. I also understand that as a matter of statemanship what you don’t say is as important as what you do say. And what you do is more important still.