Howard Dicus: In 1993, U.S. war planes took off to bomb Baghdad.
Unknown Speaker: “Iraq was warned not to fly south of the 32nd parallel.”
President George H. W. Bush: “I'm President till the 20th, and I will run the foreign policy and ... ”
President Bill Clinton: “I have also been very clear about my support for the actions taken in the last couple of days by the Bush Administration.”
Howard Dicus: With Saddam moving missiles back to where they could shoot down UN-sponsored reconnaissance flights, the West acted.
Unknown Speaker: “Coalition aircraft attacked surface-to-air missiles and associated infrastructure in southern Iraq.”
Howard Dicus: Saddam did not budge until Baghdad was bombed.
(Background noises)
Howard Dicus: The BBC's Mac McLain was in the Al-Rashid Hotel when allied bombing and Iraqi ground fire began.
Mac McLain: “The Al-Rashid Hotel took a direct hit. We then proceeded to get a bit lower down in the hotel because of the fact that we were pretty high up on the 12th floor, and on the way down we -- the smell of cordite was almost overpowering.”
Saddam Hussein: “Tonight, they came back.”
Howard Dicus: Saddam gave a belligerent radio broadcast.
Saddam Hussein: “They came back to impose the will of colonialism.”
Howard Dicus: But Saddam moved the missiles, and by year's end the UN said Saddam was complying on nuclear nonproliferation. Yet no sooner did a renegade nuclear threat abate in Iraq than it surfaced on the other side of the globe, in North Korea …
Unknown Speaker: “We think it's very, very important that this process of inspections go forward, because there are indeed questions that they may be hiding some of their capabilities and some of their nuclear material.”
Howard Dicus: The State Department's Richard Boucher said batteries for UN cameras at North Korea nuclear plants were running down. At year's end, a Pac Rim newspaper said North Korea had the bomb.
(Music.)
Howard Dicus: 1993 was the year UN peacekeepers made war in East Africa. They had gone there to feed famine victims. President Bush was misty-eyed about the mission.
President George H. W. Bush: “In Somalia, the young Marine, eyes filled with tears, holding the fragile arm of an emaciated child.”
Howard Dicus: But Bush knew Somalia had a second hunger problem: the power hunger of feuding warlords. They weren't shy about firing on UN forces. UN forces responded.
Unknown Speaker: “The basic objectives were to respond to recent attacks against United Nations forces in Somalia, continue the pressure on the faction and facilitate disarmament.”
Howard Dicus: And when U.S. forces did it again, disaster struck. UPI Pentagon Correspondent Chuck Dole.
Chuck Dole: “A number of Americans are still missing in action following an encounter with the fugitive Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid.”
Howard Dicus: The U.S. lost 13 men and its stomach for being in Somalia. Senate Republican leader Bob Dole.
Senator Bob Dole: “It seems to me it's time to take a hard, hard look at why we're still there.”
Howard Dicus: Mohamed Aidid meanwhile began offering to talk peace. Late in the year when he went to meet the other warlords, it was a U.S. aircraft that flew him there.
The U.S. also tried to help victims of civil war in the Balkans.
General Dan Loranger: “These supplies were dropped into Eastern Bosnia-Herzegovina ... ”
Howard Dicus: Brigadier General Dan Loranger.
General Dan Loranger: “ … without regard to anybody's ethnic background or religious persuasion.”
Howard Dicus: At year's end, Muslim Bosnians were still fighting Eastern Orthodox Serbs on one side and Catholic Croats on the other.
Howard Dicus: Racial hatred got worse in Europe in 1993.
(Applause)
Howard Dicus: Hitler-loving Neo-Nazis made trouble in Germany. In Austria, kindred spirits sent letter bombs to politicians who backed refugee rights. Vienna's mayor lost some fingers.
(Music)
Howard Dicus: The Holocaust Museum opened in Washington, a sobering testament to what bigotry can do.
