Excerpt from Bill Clinton’s Remarks on Somalia, October 7, 1993
Why are we still there? What are we trying to accomplish? How did a humanitarian mission turn violent? And when will our people come home?
These questions deserve straight answers. Let's start by remembering why our troops went into Somalia in the first place.
We went because only the United States could help stop one of the great human tragedies of this time. A third of a million people had died of starvation and disease. Twice that many more were at risk of dying. Meanwhile, tons of relief supplies piled up in the capital of Mogadishu because a small number of Somalis stopped food from reaching their own countrymen. Our consciences said "enough."
In our nation's best tradition, we took action with bipartisan support. President Bush sent in 28,000 American troops as part of the United Nations humanitarian mission.
Our troops created a secure environment so that food and medicine could get through. We saved close to one million lives. And throughout most of Somalia, everywhere but in Mogadishu, life began returning to normal. Crops are growing. Markets are reopening. So are schools and hospitals.
Nearly a million Somalis still depend completely on relief supplies, but at least the starvation is gone. And none of this would have happened without American leadership and America's troops.
Until June, things went well with little violence. The United States reduced our troop presence from 28,000 down to less than 5,000, with other nations picking up where we left off.
Use the excerpt to answer the question.
The excerpt from Clinton's speech indicates that his foreign policy goals primarily focused on
A.
containment.
B.
diplomacy.
C.
humanitarianism.
D.
self-determination.
C. humanitarianism.
The correct answer is C. humanitarianism.
In the excerpt, Clinton mentions that the United States went into Somalia because they wanted to help stop a human tragedy - starvation and disease. They took action as part of a United Nations humanitarian mission, aiming to create a secure environment for food and medicine to reach the people in need. Clinton emphasizes that the goal was to save lives and alleviate the suffering of the Somalis. Therefore, the focus of Clinton's foreign policy in this context was humanitarianism.