W. Weldon said "In fact, what is our greatest concern, in the 4 years that I have served here under a Clinton administration, I think back to that outrageous moment when we were called down to the basement of this building for a briefing--and the gentleman was there--by Warren Christopher and Les Aspin, giving us a summary of what was occurring in Somalia. And there were a number of Senators, I think there were over 300 of us all total in this one room and they said to us, asking us a question. ``What do we do next?'' They had no clear policy. And we had just lost 19 brave young Americans. When we finally got to the answers of why we lost those 19 brave young Americans, we were told that the commanding officer in Somalia had requested additional backup about a month before for his troops. He said he could not handle the situation. He was denied that request." @ PoliticalQuotes.com

On the recordSeptember 12, 1996

In fact, what is our greatest concern, in the 4 years that I have served here under a Clinton administration, I think back to that outrageous moment when we were called down to the basement of this building for a briefing--and the gentleman was there--by Warren Christopher and Les Aspin, giving us a summary of what was occurring in Somalia. And there were a number of Senators, I think there were over 300 of us all total in this one room and they said to us, asking us a question. ``What do we do next?'' They had no clear policy. And we had just lost 19 brave young Americans. When we finally got to the answers of why we lost those 19 brave young Americans, we were told that the commanding officer in Somalia had requested additional backup about a month before for his troops. He said he could not handle the situation. He was denied that request.

Said by

W. Weldon

Republican · Pennsylvania

Source

govinfo.gov

Editor's note · Context

Discussing U.S. military policy and the situation in Somalia during a speech.

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