From: dnm9@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (David Neal Messina)
Subject: Clinton's foreign affairs (was Re: Somalia)
Reply-To: zittin@Eng.Sun.COM
Organization: Columbia University
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 08:15:11 GMT

From zittin@Eng.Sun.COM Wed Dec 16 22:07:47 1992

 I couldn't resist:

 tjewald@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Timothy Ewald) writes:
 > 
> Recently, a student from Columbia stated that Clinton is in no danger of
> taking the fall if and when things start to go bad in Somolia.  Her logic was
> that since President George got us involved, Clinton can always point the
> finger at him.  I must disagree.
> 
> I find the Somolian/Clinton situation very analogous to Vietnam/Johnson. 
> Remember, the US started to cozy up to Saigon under Eisenhower, sent in hordes
> of military advisors and aid under JFK, and then LBJ inherited the mess in
> 1963.  There was no quick-fix for Vietnam, just as is becoming apparent in 
> Somolia.   LBJ had a delimma (similar to Bill's future delimma?): either pull
> out of Vietnam, and thus take the blame for "loss", or escalate the conflict &
> stave off defeat (only to eventually take the blame for a big loss).  Although
> previous administrations got us involved in Southeast Asia, LBJ got handed the
> mess.  And, although his pulling out in 1963 sounds great to us now in
> hindsight, it no doubt would have been condemned by the American public back
> then.  Keep in mind that Vietnam was a popular war in 1963, just like
> Operation Sweepsweek in Somolia is now.  Whoever is in the White House
> ultimately has their head on the chopping block when it comes to military
> actions, whether they initiated them or not (especially popular wars
> glamorized by CNN).  Pointing the finger at a former-President who is now seen
> only on the golf course and on "Nightline" just isn't going to fly on
> Mainstreet.  
> 
> And, keep in mind that when things start to bog down in Somolia, George
> Herbert Walker Jefferson Davis Buford T. Justice Bush will be at home (in one
> of his three home states, that is).  Clinton will get the blame for "screwing
> up the war."  Bill will, like LBJ, have to pull out, and catch flak when the
> bad guys in the jeeps re-take the streets; or we will have to escalate the war
> to maintain stability.  We can't leave until some stability is brought to
> Somolia or we have failed --- why save them from starving in '92 so that they
> can starve again in '93?  And, bringing stability to Somolia will take months
> and months.  Meanwhile, Bill gets to inherit his own Vietnam for the 90s ---
> an initially popular war that will eventually get his head chopped off.  And,
> on the guillotine is inscribed "Republicans '96."
> 

Yes, I agree it's unlikely Clinton has enough foreign policy smarts to
cause a long-lasting peaceful, U.S. solution to the Somali situation and
will have to blame someone.

> The overwhelming support of Operation Get Your Mind Off the Depression in this
> country, as well as on the net, proves that this conflict, which has kept the
> military industrial complex viable, is truly a war that everyone can love ---
> from the pro-choice, environmentally conscious, vegetarian college kid 
> intellegensia, to the "talkin' proud 'bout 'merica" flagwavers. 
> 
> My two cents anyway,
> 
> 				property is theft,
> 
> 				slade the leveller
> 


Dave



NB: David Messina, address below, is posting second-hand.
David
dnm9@columbia.edu
Newsgroups: alt.president.clinton,sci.econ,talk.politics.misc