ABSTRACT
Although President Bill Clinton made the decision to withdraw U.S. combat troops from Somalia within three days of the disastrous Mogadishu raid that resulted in the deaths of 18 U.S. servicemen, casualties were not the only consideration. Many other factors were at play. Waning Congressional and public enthusiasm for a new “nation-building” mandate, the strategic insignificance of Somalia in the post-Cold War era, and a host of other foreign policy issues had been eroding U.S. support for the mission in Somalia for months. The “Black Hawk Down” incident merely accelerated the final rupture in public and Congressional support, forcing the president to bring the troops home. It was not a simple case of casualty aversion.
