by Matthew Rothschild

About the author: Matthew Rothschild is publisher of the Progressive magazine.

Isupported the U.S. mission to Somalia. I supported it, even though I have opposed every U.S. invasion of my conscious lifetime, from Vietnam to El Salvador, from Nicaragua to Iraq, from Libya to Panama, and all parts in between.

Despite Objections

Isupported it, even though I knew the overwhelming responsibility the United States bears in supporting the brutal Somalia government of Siad Barre, which killed tens of thousands of its people and reduced much of Somalia to a land of famine.

Isupported it, even though I knew the atrocious record of the United States in causing starvation and death elsewhere in the world.

Isupported it, even though I knew the Pentagon will no doubt continue to use it as propaganda—a pretext for...