Veterans of America’s disastrous adventure in Somalia in the 1980s and ’90s must have been shaking their heads Friday when President Trump seemed to blame former U.S. We know that she joined the foreign service in 1986, and that Somalia was her first assignment. In the mid-to-late 1980s, when Yovanovitch arrived in Mogadishu, the capital, Somalia was a crippled orphan of the Cold War. In other words, Somalia was “bad” long before Yovanovitch got there, despite Trump’s ignorant assessment. Asked at Friday’s hearing to respond to Trump’s accusation, she replied, “I don’t think I have such powers — not in Mogadishu, Somalia.” Virtually no one did.

Source: Los Angeles Times November 18, 2019 18:00 UTC