Strapped to a stretcher and clutching his red beret, freed American pilot Michael Durant was airlifted by helicopter today to a waiting plane and left for a military hospital in Germany.
Durant awoke "in excellent spirits" after surgery Thursday on his broken leg and has every chance of fully recovering from a broken back and broken cheekbone, an Army doctor said. He was held in captivity for 11 days.Meanwhile, the Senate today endorsed President Clinton's March 31 date for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Somalia as the administration averted a major foreign policy defeat.
In exchange for the Senate support, Clinton consented to demands that all payments for the operation end on the president's pullout date - a dictate that emerged from the congressional outcry over the military's continued role in the East African nation.
"I think most people felt it was the right policy in very difficult circumstances," Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine, said today. "It gives the president the flexibility to handle the withdrawal of American forces. It permits a humanitarian effort."
Somali militia leader Gen. Mohamed Aidid released Durant on Thursday in a move that enhanced Aidid's political stature.
The release paralleled Clinton's shift from military force to diplomacy in Somalia after the Oct. 3 battle in which Durant, 32, was captured.
Eighteen American soldiers were killed and more than 70 were wounded in that U.N. raid, a toll that stunned leaders in the United States and prompted calls for an American withdrawal.
More than 300 Somalis were killed, including many women and children.