Comments on: Projection

By: Jon H

Jon H — Wed, 06 Aug 2003 21:22:28 +0000

Uh, your point bob? I never claimed Somalia wasn’t a first class screw up. I never tried to exonerate Clinton or blame Bush.

Nice knee-jerk reaction.

The point was that there was no buildup even remotely resembling Gulf War 1 or 2.

Remember, buildup comes before. Therefore it would have been before the screw up, before Black Hawk Down and all the rest.

I’d guess the press probably expected Somalia to be a dinky little thing like Grenada or Panama, with little effect on the economy.

By: bob

bob — Wed, 06 Aug 2003 00:55:59 +0000

Jon H. Yep Bush I sent troops into Somalia for safeguarding food shipments and got tons of flack for NOT allowing US troops to move out until armour was in place to protect them. It was Slick Willie that changed the mission, withdrew US armour because the UN was there (and if the UN is there, what else could you need?) and could provide the support, provided of course that their respective governments approved of the action. Revisionist history always helps one’s arguement.

By: Wallster

Wallster — Tue, 05 Aug 2003 17:37:23 +0000

I absolutely cannot believe that Bush said something that stupid. What day was that?

By: Jon H

Jon H — Mon, 04 Aug 2003 20:12:36 +0000

“Were the media beating the drums in a march towards “war” in Kosovo, Somalia, etc.?”

I don’t think those would have the same effect.

Firstly, they were smaller operations.

Secondly, they didn’t take place in the oil-producing region, so they didn’t have much chance of interrupting oil shipments, which hurts the economy.

Also, there wasn’t the same kind of long-term build up. Kosovo was triggered by Milosevic’s actions, and happened not long after, if I recall correctly. Involvement in Somalia was started by Bush I, wasn’t it?

By: Tony

Tony — Mon, 04 Aug 2003 15:30:56 +0000

To be fair, someone with access to LexisNexis compare the news coverage vis-a-vis the economy and financial markets during the roaring Clinton years when we were involved in conflicts in Africa and the Baltic states. Were the media beating the drums in a march towards “war” in Kosovo, Somalia, etc.? Were the press (un)favorable or indifferent towards Clinton during these times? Were the markets (un)favorable or indifferent? Might be some interesting corollaries, inferences, inductive reasoning and sophistry.