RIP, Joe. "Rudie Can't Fail" will always be on my play list. No amount of inbred Somali goat-f*ers will ever be worth the life of a single US serviceman.
I think it was because George Bush Snr was the first president of The End of History. It was believed that places like Somalia were only hellholes because bad guys had somehow gotten control of the government. So America would go in, kill the baddies, pour in aid and NGOs, and Somalia would become a prosperous liberal democracy.
Bill Clinton inherited the policy from HW, but after the Battle of Mogadishu he didn't double down on the nation building and send in another 100,000 troops, he just pulled the plug on it and left Somalia to the clans.
With hindsight we can see that 'liberal' Bill Clinton was much more capable of understanding war and power politics than either of the 'warmongering' Bushes.
The liberal Secretary of Defense at the time of the Mogadishu ambush, Les Aspin, had lusted for the job. He began the implementation of Clinton's "don't ask, don't tell policy" and the recruitment of women for combat operations. He oversaw the increasing military involvement of the US in places like Haiti, the Balkans and the Horn of Africa.
He also denied a request by Colin Powell for military equipment that might have prevented many of the deaths that occurred during the Mogadishu ambush. As the ambush unfolded, Aspin was not immediately available. He was attending some fund raiser or other social event in DC.
Aspin ultimately lost his job, when Congress began investigating his partying in Europe during some NATO conference. Like Cheney, his heart eventually did him in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ3wk6KBLjo
"Best Electric Guitar Solo Ever"?!
Or this, the link at the bottom of the Substack post: "Black Hawk Down Minstrel Boy"?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj2j7R1NL-s
Black Hawk Down is the only book I can recall making my heart pound while reading.
RIP, Joe. "Rudie Can't Fail" will always be on my play list. No amount of inbred Somali goat-f*ers will ever be worth the life of a single US serviceman.
Sounds like a Pogues song.
Love the Clash.
50 was too early. Godspeed, Joe.
Also, remind me what the eff we were doing in Somalia?
I think it was because George Bush Snr was the first president of The End of History. It was believed that places like Somalia were only hellholes because bad guys had somehow gotten control of the government. So America would go in, kill the baddies, pour in aid and NGOs, and Somalia would become a prosperous liberal democracy.
Bill Clinton inherited the policy from HW, but after the Battle of Mogadishu he didn't double down on the nation building and send in another 100,000 troops, he just pulled the plug on it and left Somalia to the clans.
With hindsight we can see that 'liberal' Bill Clinton was much more capable of understanding war and power politics than either of the 'warmongering' Bushes.
The liberal Secretary of Defense at the time of the Mogadishu ambush, Les Aspin, had lusted for the job. He began the implementation of Clinton's "don't ask, don't tell policy" and the recruitment of women for combat operations. He oversaw the increasing military involvement of the US in places like Haiti, the Balkans and the Horn of Africa.
He also denied a request by Colin Powell for military equipment that might have prevented many of the deaths that occurred during the Mogadishu ambush. As the ambush unfolded, Aspin was not immediately available. He was attending some fund raiser or other social event in DC.
Aspin ultimately lost his job, when Congress began investigating his partying in Europe during some NATO conference. Like Cheney, his heart eventually did him in.