First of all, they didn't take down the U.S.A. They killed 18 Army Ranger and DELTA Force soldiers. The U.S. in turn killed anywhere from 1,000-10,000 members of Aidid's militia. We had Aidid cornered, but Clinton, like usualy, capitulated to public pressure after the famous Blackhawk Down incident and didn't allow the military to finish the job.
Poor military strategy, very difficult conditions to win under, being undermined on the homefront by war protestors and media certainly didn't help the cause.
You can thank your liberal politicians for the ROE on this one.
What you seem to ignore is that no one defeated the U.S. military. None of these groups, al Qaeda, NVA, VC, or Aidid's militia would be able to launch a successful invasion of the U.S which is how a real defeat would be measured.
It's easy to simply hold on long enough in a guerilla war until the American media and liberals pressure the politicians to pull out, but that's not defeating the U.S. military.
