@walterallenhaxton. The situation being talked about here is the same one in which Mark Bowden wrote about called “Black Hawk Down”. The number of Somalians killed (1000 was a published number) was by no means a massacre by United States forces. They were sent in at the worst possible time, daylight hours, to carry out a very dangerous mission in the middle of the hostile city of Mogadishu. The Army Rangers and Delta Force had to fight their way out against thousands upon thousands of armed civilians who shot down two of our Blackhawk helicopters. The U.S. forces did what they had to do to survive and make it out alive some 18 hours after constant firefights all through the day and night in built up urban terrain (the most dangerous type of war environment ever).
No, it isn’t our job to feed other people but we’re not called the world’s policemen for nothing. It is usually the United States that is called in to help other countries because we’re a superpower with the most money and resources and we answer the call when most other countries won’t. At the time we went to help out U.N. troops in Somalia who were outgunned and ineffective, Mohamed Farrah Aidid and his warlord clan (along with others) had already stolen U.N. food supplies that had starved 300,000 Somalians that depended on it. In a word, genocide. Enough was enough.
The United States should not be held personally accountable for deaths caused in our attempts to correct or improve on a heinous situation that is cruel and inhumane for the general populace. The deaths that occurred were collateral damage and believe me, I hate that term and that reasoning but it is what it is. Additionally, those thousands that died were aggressors trying kill American troops and not innocent civilian bystanders.
Yes, it is true that after this incident took place, we did let the evil men that perpetrated it continue in power with what they were doing. Let’s be clear on this though. The U.S. military is not the one that decided to pull out and leave the job unfinished. The Clinton administration gave the order to pull out our military and our government is partly to be blamed for the perpetuation of evil over there. It was government work in the end. It was the poor government work of the forgettable Clinton administration and presidency.