DEALING WITH A MADMAN

It is hard not to give a hearty thumbs up to Jesse Jackson for his recent trip to persuade Slobodan Milosevic to give up three American soldiers being held hostage as NATO troops bomb Yugoslavia. Goodness knows there are family members and friends of the released hostages who are overjoyed.

And this isn't the first time Jackson has put himself in the middle of an international situation that ended in positive results. So we will join those who say Jackson has earned the congratulations he has received.

But we can't overlook that fact that Jackson's actions belie his efforts on American soil. For years Jackson has preached -- he is, after all, a persuasive minister of the Gospel -- racial harmony in a nation whose diversity has too often produced bloodshed.

It is perplexing, then, that Jackson should curry favor with the likes of Milosevic, whose record on ethnic cleansing is among the bloodiest of all. The message, unfortunately, seems to be that it's OK to cozy up to genocidal murderers when you're out of the country.