Rumsfeld's peculiar view of U.S. as global leader.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has a most peculiar view of how America should exercise its role as global leader.

He wants to pull our troops out from messy peacekeeping operations on the

ground and focus on putting weapons in space. He's "pushing" to get U.S. peacekeepers out of Bosnia. He startled Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak by informing them that the Bush administration wants to withdraw U.S. peacekeepers from the Sinai.

Here's the message from "Rummy": Never mind that allies count on our commitments. Forget the small wars, we're putting the resources into space wars so we can be ready for Armageddon. Let's hunker down behind a missile shield and let the rest of the world take care of itself.

Oversimplification? Perhaps, but it certainly sounds like where Rumsfeld is heading. He's leading a major review of U.S. defense policy, and says it's time for America to stop getting involved in the world's messy little conflicts.

He told the "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" that "We were organized to fight two major regional conflicts and realized we didn't have one, but we did have Kosovo, Bosnia, 85 other things that went on in the world. My suspicion is that we ought to be arranged somewhat differently."

In other words, too bad we don't have a big war, but we can ignore the small ones.