<But spectacular failures still haunt these forces. There was the aborted hostage rescue in Iran in 1980. During the 1989 invasion of Panama, the forces had a disproportionate number of casualties when their small-unit missions rolled into large, set- piece firefights. The disastrous attempt to kidnap a Somali warlord, Mohammed Farrah Aidid, in 1993 certainly ended public support for involvement there.

IMO only the Iran hostage rescue fiasco can be blamed on the military. Carter put no restrictions on the mission that I am aware of but it was poorly planned and poorly executed by the military. You might still blame Carter for picking the wrong people to plan and lead the mission but it was still a military blunder.

What I know about the Panama casualties points to simply fortunes of war. We found some unexpected conditions that resulted in casualties but the operation was a success. Maybe someone screwed up maybe not.

In Somalia the only mistake the military made is agreeing to go in poorly equipped and under asinine rules of engagement. The subsequent withdrawal made us look like cowards. We should have reinforced our forces and finished what we went there to do. This one is on the heads of politicians.

I suspect that the military is more disgusted than haunted by those incidents but all of us should be haunted by the possibility that our military might again be forced to seek something less than clear cut victory with all the tools at our disposal.

I am optimistic that this will not happen. I believe we have good political leadership and I trust that our military leaders are up to the job.