JOHANNESBURG (AP) — In the final days of his presidency, George H.W. Bush committed the U.S. military to a mission many would later regret, ordering more than 20,000 troops into Somalia to "save thousands of innocents from death."
Within months, the image of dead U.S. soldiers dragged through Mogadishu profoundly changed the way the U.S. approached Africa. Yet it is barely mentioned in the explorations of Bush's legacy.
The military's work in Africa is now conducted in small doses, with little fanfare of the past.
Bush's death revived a debate among some Somalis about the U.S. mission, with some remembering countrymen killed in the fight against warlords and others arguing that thousands of starving people were saved.
The country's Somali-American president has avoided discussing the past in a brief statement expressing "heartfelt condolences."
