American M.I.A. diplomacy for Burma?

There's an interesting tidbit buried in a lengthy Associated Press analysis of thawing U.S.-Burma ties, which are on a major high as Hillary Clinton visits the blighted Southeast Asian.

Leaked U.S. cables, recounting talks with Burma's foreign ministry, suggest the two rivals could ease into normalized relations with a more M.I.A. diplomacy.

The Defense Department estimates that more than 1,000 deceased service members were never recovered from World War II's China-India-Burma theater. Acrimonious relations with Burma — the Bush-era State Department called the nation an "outpost of tyranny" — have prevented most recovery efforts. (Though several small-scale missions have taken place, according to Defense Department documents.)

Digging up the bones of World War II casualties (most of whom died in plane crashes supplying U.S.-backed Chinese forces against the Japanese) may sound like an extremely low caliber of diplomacy.

But that's exactly the point.

In 1988, years before the U.S. normalized relations with former foe Vietnam in 1995, U.S. officials were able to convince Vietnamese authorities to allow recovery missions. It was a baby step that got a prominent U.S. general sitting down with Vietnam's vice premier.

The reform process in Burma could "look similar to normalizing relations with Vietnam," writes Ernest Bower of the Center for Strategic and International Studies this week. As it did in Vietnam, the U.S. may end up testing out Burma's appetite for cooperation with more M.I.A. recovery digs, a non-controversial joint mission that would at least keep the two countries working together.