Fred the Red Shirt wrote:

I don't remember exatly what Walt said but *I* blame GHB
for sending American Troops into Somalia without any
exit strategy.

Bush 41 *did* have an exit strategy. Bush 41 was interested in providing U.S.
forces for the protection of food supplies. Once the threat of famine had
passed, U.N. forces would slowly begin replacing U.S. forces. It was at this
transfer stage that Clinton changed the mission from humanitarian relief to
"nation building". Neither the U.N. forces nor the U.S. forces were prepared
for that new mission.

Clearly GHB was not concerned with how
to get our people out of that situation

Not surprisingly, your partisan view of the world makes things less clear.
"Clearly" Bush 41 did have an exit strategy and it was in the process of of
being executed when the new President changed the mission.

and the fact that
Clinton fell into the trap and made the situation worse
does nothing to exhonorate GHB of using our troops as
pawns to spite Clinton for wining the election.

What a joke. The minute after Clinton was innaugurated he had the power to
withdraw every U.S. solider from Mogadishu. Trying to claim Bush somehow put
Clinton in a position to screw up in Somalia is, once again, ridiculous
partisan crap. All Clinton had to do was stick with the Bush draw down plan in
Somalia and everything would have been fine. Yes, Adid was getting more
agressive, but the worst of the famine was behind them and there was nothing
anyone could do to build any kind of government in Somalia.

At least some good did come of it. For a time, the
humanitarian relief effort was a success.

Which was all Bush 41 was planning to do.


BUFDRVR

"Stay on the bomb run boys, I'm gonna get those bomb doors open if it harelips
everyone on Bear Creek"