1/18    See "Black Hawk Down" you liberal, conscience objectors.
        \_ Does it show how a few dozen Americans beat the crap out of 1000+
           lunatic barbarians who made 3 mass rushes at them but couldn't
           budge them from their position for 48+ hours?  Or does it show
           some leftist lie trying to justify pulling out and making us
           (again) the laughing stock of the world a la Jimmy Carter/Iran?
           (again) the laughing stock of the world a la Reagan/Beirut?
           \_ History lesson: It was Republican pressure that pulled
              Clinton out of Somalia.
              \_ Leadership lesson: The President is the CIC and decides who
                 goes where, when, why and when they come back.  Thanks for
                 the effort.  Are you going to claim all bad things are the
                 fault of the Republicans pressuring the poor baby and all
                 good things are the result of the heroic Clinton valiantly
                 resisting the eveil-doers of the right?  Oh please....
                 \_ Darn Bush Sr. sent them there for no good reason, mostly
                    to distract people from his having done nada on the
                    domestic front.  Maybe that's why all the reporters
                    were there waiting when the troops first landed in
                    Somalia.
           \_ What was the mission at Somalia?  (Sorry I missed some
                      American history.)
              \_ Some bullshit about sending our men there on some sort of
                 'peace keeping' mission.  As if there was peace there to
                 keep.  Very similar idea to sending our men to Haiti and
                 handing them brooms to sweep their filthy fucking third
                 world streets.  Ask a Clinton fan about proper use of the
                 military.
                 \_ Bush Sr. sent them there.
           \_ the former. over ninety minutes of it is pure action.
              (BTW is was more than a few dozen. it was 99 Rangers - one
               company)
                \_ Don't forget the Deltas. -=Liberal Berkeleyite
                   who accepts the occastional necessary use of force.
               \_ IIRC, the rangers were split into 3 groups for most of the
                  time.  They only hooked up again on the last day shortly
                  before getting out.
        \_ I think Ridley Scott should stick to making Aliens.
           \- See the "war on afganistan". I have no doubt many of the
              people in the armed forces are have all the boy scout
              virtues and would do what is asked of them by and for their
              country. Nevertheless the way this war was conducted was
              "we will bomb while you ride into the valley of death on
              horseback" [we'll give you some ammo but no APCs]. and
              then "we'll cut you a check to walk through the caves
              facing boobytraps and ambushes ... bringing the market
              to war fighting ... while we back at our armed compound."
              This was very obvious and prominent in Afganistan and it
              looks sort of bad. The europeans [aside from the Brits]
              look even more foolish. This is pretty obvious to much of
              the world and part of the reason for the ambivalence towards
              the US. --psb
              \_ And you suppose if 500,000 Americans showed up it would've
                 been better and over faster?