The Army general who led the effort to capture Somali clan leader Mohamed Aidid told President Clinton he accepts responsibility for the failed mission and the deaths of 18 Americans in a battle in downtown Mogadishu, congressional and Pentagon officials say.
Gen. William Garrison sent a handwritten letter to Clinton through Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., who recently visited the East African nation, the officials said Wednesday night, speaking on condition of anonymity.In addition to accepting responsibility for the failed mission, Garrison told Clinton that the de-ploy-ment of armored vehicles to his Ranger unit in Somalia would not have changed the outcome of the Oct. 3 mission against Aidid's forces, the officials said.
Aidid's guerrillas shot down two U.S. helicopters in the street battle that killed the 18 Americans, along with more than 300 Somalis and a Malaysian soldier.
Defense Secretary Les Aspin, who met privately with Garrison at the Pentagon on Wednesday, came under intense criticism on Capitol Hill for refusing a request for armor by Maj. Gen. Thomas Montgomery, commander of U.S. forces in Somalia, in August.
On Oct. 3, the Americans had to ask Malaysians in the 33-nation U.N. force for armored personnel carriers and Pakistani troops for tanks to help rescue U.S. troops that had been pinned down by Somali gunfire for hours.
Montgomery said in an Oct. 19 interview that having U.S. armor "would have made a difference."
"It would have been an easier operation. We would have been able to punch into the city more quickly . . . (and) basically not be affected by RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades)."
Murtha, chairman of the House defense appropriations subcommittee, returned from Somalia last week.
His spokesman, Brad Clemenson, said Wednesday night the congressman "carried the letter to the president and the letter basically said General Garrison was taking responsibility for the failed mission."
A Pentagon official said Aspin had not seen the letter and was not told of its contents before it was sent to Clinton.
"Aspin had no idea about it," the official said. However, the official confirmed the general contents of the letter and that Aspin and Garrison had met.
The official said Aspin did not intend the meeting to be an interrogation of Garrison about the letter but instead had asked him for a description of the events that occurred when a 600-member Ran-ger unit attempted to capture some of Aidid's lieutenants.
A second Pentagon official also confirmed the contents of the letter, which was first reported by CBS News.
Asked whether Garrison had discussed resigning over the incident, the first Pentagon official said he had not.