Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RocketMan who wrote (6074)	10/18/2001 10:20:43 PM
From: Ilaine	Respond to of 281500

We went into Somalia to feed the people who were starving after being bombarded in the media with photos of starving children with flies crawling on their faces. I guess we were expecting children to come running up asking GI Joe for chocolate. Big mistake. We did not lose many American lives, but the image of dead American troops being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu was too much culture shock for people who were not expecting it. I have no idea whether Brando's rant in "Apocalypse Now" about the little arms is completely fabricated or has some basis in truth, but it was that kind of moment for us. If you recall, the American soldiers in Viet Nam went into a village and inoculated all the children - probably against smallpox - and then after they left, the Viet Cong came back in and cut off all the inoculated arms of the children as a warning not to cooperate with Americans. When the Americans came back and saw the stack of little arms, they finally realized what kind of people they were dealing with. In "Apocalypse Now," Brando dealt with it by becoming worse than the Viet Cong. The movie is a morality play - according to the movie, you can't win an American style victory if you become worse than your enemy. The information released today along with Al Quaeda's threat about dragging Americans through the street is that Al Quaeda was there in Mogadishu - which probably explains a lot. We could walk away from Mogadishu, but we can't walk away from Al Quaeda. They have a hard on to see who is going to win this and I guess we'll just have to see. It's easy for me to sit here in the leather office chair - my ass isn't on the line. But my kids are getting to that age - so it means a lot to me.