NS,
Well, then I didn't understand your post. Looking at the timeline (I admit the "Frontline" site had me wondering, but the facts apparently are indisputable), you have to wonder at the total and complete cock up, down to and including a role by none other than Jimmy Carter.
As for the following, this is what I remembered, a failed UN attempt to provide food, a request for support and a US response:
"US President George Bush launches Somalia intervention
Deteriorating security prevents the UN mission from delivering food and supplies to the starving Somalis. Relief flights are looted upon landing, food convoys are hijacked and aid workers assaulted. The UN appeals to its members to provide military forces to assist the humanitarian operation.
With only weeks left in his term as president, George Bush responds to the UN request, proposing that US combat troops lead an international UN force to secure the environment for relief operations. On December 5, the UN accepts his offer, and Bush orders 25,000 US troops into Somalia. On December 9th, the first US Marines land on the beach."
There is something very very Vietnam-ish about the narrative after this point. Politicians worried about their constituencies at home fail to provide appropriate support for a military mission (and also fail to pull it out), resulting in disaster, body bags and an ignominious retreat.
(Now, I must return to my taxes.)
Kb |
