Rep. Matt Gaetz came up short in another bid to force President Joe Biden to bring troops home from Somalia and its dubious overseas mission.
But he showed that there is significant support for ending America’s seemingly never-ending overseas military ventures.
As The Free Press reported a month ago, Gaetz, a Fort Walton Beach Republican, argued that U.S. troops needed to be pulled from Somalia, where they have been since 1992.
No one could adequately explain why they were there, adding that Congress had never authorized them to be there in the first place.
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“As Americans become more aware of our country’s military misadventures abroad, the calls to end forever wars are growing,” he said at the time.
On Thursday, Gaetz noted in a floor speech that he was continuing his “legislative series” on showing the American people “all of the places on planet Earth” where Congress still believes 9/11 justifies the presence of troops.
Gaetz’s resolution called for pulling roughly 900 U.S. troops from Somalia, where they are deployed to help Somalians hold at bay al-Shabaab, a terrorist group affiliated with al-Qaeda.
It failed 321-102, according to GovTrack.us.
During the floor debate, Gaetz noted that it strained credulity to believe 900 troops could save the long-dysfunctional African nation.
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“The future of Somalia must be determined by Somalia, and to the extent that foreign influences could be helpful, I would argue that the African Union is far better positioned to build a stronger sense of national identity and national unity among clans that have been warring in Somalia for generations than U.S. troops,” Gaetz argued.
“Are we going to be the block captain of Mogadishu forever? … We should not be engaged in nation-building in Somalia, in the Middle East, or elsewhere.”
On a rare occasion, the issue brought Democrats and Republicans together. On both sides of Gaetz’s resolution, the vote included about as many Democrats as Republicans.
Among the 50 Democrats who joined Gaetz and other conservatives, such as Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, were left-wing Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib.
After the vote, Gaetz tweeted, “America has a responsibility to protect its citizens and defend its interests, but Somalia is not a vital national security concern. It is time to bring our troops home and let Somalia find its own path to stability.”
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“Warmongers in Congress still outnumber those who wish to end forever wars, but that will never undermine our determination to keep up this fight,” Gaetz added.
Last month, he lost on a similar resolution to bring U.S. troops home from Syria by a similar margin, 321-103.
Somalia
U.S. troops were first deployed to Somalia in December 1992 as part of Operation Restore Hope. This was a UN-authorized mission to provide humanitarian assistance to the Somali people, who were facing a famine.
However, troops were withdrawn from Somalia in 1994 after several deadly clashes with Somali militias.
U.S. troops returned to Somalia in 2007 as part of the US-led war on terror.
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