- ›› Coverage Organizations : US Marines
By the time Jefferson entered the White House, Congress was shelling out nearly one-fifth of the national budget to buy off the Barbary pirates. Jefferson wanted war, but was convinced that Congress would not support it. He therefore asserted an executive privilege: by executive order he sent a small fleet of American warships to the Mediterranean with instructions to protect US commerce.
Glossary Term – Event
US marines landed in Mogadishu, Somalia, to conduct a humanitarian mission to end the looting and extortion that led to widespread starvation in the country. In October 1993, however, US forces faced Somali militia fighters in a battle that left eighteen Americans dead. In 1995, the UN withdrew its forces altogether, leaving Somalia without a government and under continual conflict and famine.