Sometimes support is handed to you... like the support Bush jr has right now. The acts of the terrorists guaranteed a united reaction.
Sometimes you have to build support for what needs to be done.
Once again, look at:
http://www.ndu.edu/inss/books/allardch1.html ...."U.S. involvement in Somalia proceeded through three stages: Operation Provide Relief, a humanitarian assistance mission; Operation Restore Hope, an operation that combined humanitarian assistance with limited military action; and UNOSOM II, a peace enforcement mission involving active combat and nation-building .
...The 50 UNOSOM observers sent in did not make a noticeable difference in either ending hostilities or securing relief supplies but in July, the United Nations asked for increased airlifts for food.
President Bush responded by ordering U.S. forces to support Operation Provide Relief from 15 August 1992 through 9 December 1992.
....Despite the reinforcement of UNOSOM throughout the next several months, the security situation grew worse. In November, a ship laden with relief supplies was fired upon in the harbor at Mogadishu, forcing its withdrawal before the badly needed supplies could be brought ashore.
In the United States and elsewhere, public distress grew and, on 4 December 1992, President George Bush announced the initiation of Operation Restore Hope.Jan. 20, 1993, Clinton inaguarated...These disagreements delayed but did not ultimately prevent the formation of UNOSOM II, officially established by Security Council Resolution 814 on 26 March 1993. The Resolution was significant in several ways:
The Council mandated the first ever U.N.-directed peacekeeping operation under the Chapter VII enforcement provisions of the Charter, including the requirement for UNOSOM II to disarm the Somali clans
It explicitly endorsed the objective of rehabilitating the political institutions and economy of a member state
It called for building a secure environment throughout the country, including the northern region that had declared its independence.
...Rather than being in charge, U.S. participation in this operation was primarily conceived in terms of logistical support, with over 3,000 personnel specifically committed to that mission. Significantly, however, the United States was also asked to provide a Quick Reaction Force—some 1,150 soldiers from the US Army's 10th Mountain Division—that would operate under the tactical control of the Commander, U.S. Forces, Somalia."
OK, the initial two operations basically had popular US public support. Feed the starving Somalis, when the food ship was fired upon, limited military action to ensure delivery. That was Bush's mandate.
Clinton takes over in '93 and a major expansion in the UN force is required for "peacekeeping and disarming" the "rebel" forces. This is where the public support evaporated. The US public, never to happy to have US troops under UN command, began to withdraw support. It's in the new reports of the time. A band-aid is put on the problem by having US troops under US tactical control; it wasn't enough to restore public support.
The "kill shot" came from the "mission creep". From peacekeeping and disarmament to "snatching" the enemy warlord commander.
http://www.netnomad.com/Sloyan1.html "It was Aug. 22, and President Bill Clinton was vacationing at Martha's Vineyard when word arrived of another attack on U.S. soldiers in Somalia.
No one was killed, but a land mine wounded six Americans when it destroyed their vehicle in the streets of Mogadishu. It had been detonated by a Somali spotter using a remote-controlled device - the identical method used in two earlier attacks. One of those, on Aug. 8, had killed four U.S. Army military policemen.
For Clinton, the Aug. 22 attack was the final straw. That night, on his orders, Delta Force commandos from Ft. Bragg, N.C., a helicopter detachment from Ft. Campbell, Ky., and Army Rangers from Ft. Benning, Ga., were en route to Somalia.
Once there, the clandestine Special Operations force would coordinate with a CIA team that had been in place for more than a month. Their mission: Capture Gen. Mohamed Farrah Aidid, the dominant political leader in one of the world's poorest countries.
Once Aidid was in custody, Delta Force would whisk him to a third-country ship off the coast of Somalia, where the warlord would be tried for murder.
"We were going to set Aidid aside," said one senior Clinton adviser, using the White House euphemism for what was more commonly known among officials as the "snatch" operation."
That's where he totally lost the support of the people and the Congress. Mission creep without the necessary increase in resources to accomplish the mission, resulting in the death of the Rangers and the CNN broadcast of dead soldiers being drug through the streets.
Right there, he had a choice. Go kick some *ss big time or retreat. He chose to retreat.
...The crisis came into full view on 5 June 1993, when 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed in an ambush by Aideed supporters. The United Nations Security Council Resolution 837, passed the next day, called for the immediate apprehension of those responsible—and quickly led to U.S. forces being used in a highly personalized manhunt for Aideed. After a series of clashes involving U.S. Rangers and other units, a major engagement occurred on 3 October in which 18 Americans were killed and 75 wounded—the bloodiest battle of any U.N. peacekeeping operation. Shortly thereafter, President Clinton announced the phased withdrawal of American troops that would end by 31 March 1994. U.S. forces largely were confined to force protection missions from this change of mission until the withdrawal was completed.
....In the aftermath of the Oct. 3 battle, Aidid emerged with a global reputation by withstanding American military wrath and winning Clinton's support for a Somali-based political settlement.
Clinton seemed to underline the debacle by announcing a March 31 deadline for retreat from the East African country. In hoisting a diplomatic white flag, the president portrayed himself as a victim of events controlled by the United Nations on a Somali mission that Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali called "peace enforcement."
"
We cannot let a charge we got under a UN resolution to do some police work - which is essentially what it is, to arrest suspects - turn into a military mission," Clinton said in the aftermath of the Oct. 3 battle."
Who turned it into a military "snatch" operation without adequate resources for the task?
Only one answer.
It wasn't Byrd or the Congress that screwed the pooch on this one. The same thing happens every time ANY President doesn't listen to the guys that actually know the job.
Had those Rangers had 4 M-1A tanks and APC's do you think it would have turned out differntly? The M-1A is essentially impervious to anything the Somalis had to shoot at it.
The mission was essentially over when the disaster occurred:
"...
Gallagher explained how 142 Rangers had been on the verge of a 12-minute drive to safety with 25 prisoners when a Delta Team helicopter crashed. It was about 4:15 p.m.Less than an hour earlier the helicopter had been one of six Blackhawks that dropped 90 Rangers and Delta Force soldiers into the middle of Aidid's neighborhood near the Olympic Hotel. The group of Aidid supporters had been captured, and the escape convoy had pulled into place with another 52 Rangers aboard to provide covering fire.
But now rescuing the crew of the downed helicopter became paramount. "We weren't going to leave those guys," Gallagher said. From a defensive position near the hotel, Lt. Tom Di Tomasso saw the Blackhawk crashing four blocks away. With 13 men from his platoon, Di Tomasso immediately began moving to the crash site.
While Di Tomasso was on foot, most of the Rangers were aboard armored jeeps - Humvees with bulletproof windshields, doors and tops - and unarmored trucks. The halting, twisting drive toward the downed helicopter through a maze of narrow Mogadishu streets became a bloodbath."
Would it have been different if M-1A tanks had gone to aid the helo crew?
Not Congress. Not the public support.
Once again the historical American failure of the suits failing to listen to the soldiers.
(..and while I can't prove it or find sources, I think the SAME FORKING MISTAKE was made on the way to Baghdad in the Gulf War. Yeah, I'm talking about Bush Sr.
IMO, we'd have been better off rolling on and dealing with whatever we had to do AFTER Saddam. Especially in light of the present situation; we may be going back anyway. We governed Japan for a while, as we rebuilt it. It could have worked.)
OK, that's all.. I'm done.
