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After the 1992 election, President George HW Bush gave the new presidentelect, Bill Clinton, a surprise gift—significant participation in the United Nations intervention in Somalia. This decision haunted the Clinton administration, producing an early foreign policy catastrophe in October 1993 with the downing of American helicopters and the resulting battle of Mogadishu. These events constrained Clinton’s foreign policies towards Rwanda and Bosnia and shaped perceptions of American resolve, including in the eyes of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. 1

Stephen Saideman is an associate professor of political science at McGill University, where he holds the Canada Research Chair in international security and ethnic conflict. He also is a member of the McGill-Université de Montréal Research Group in International Security (REGIS) and has published extensively on ethnic conflict. The author is grateful to the …