CHALLENGE IN MOGADISHU : Voices : Reaction to the events in Somalia.

“We have too many people starving in our own country. But I don’t think we should just pack up and hit the road. It would look like we had our tail between our legs.”

--Steve Derosier, best man at the wedding of captured helicopter pilot Michael Durant

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“It makes me feel like Vietnam is happening all over again. We need to fight our own battles. We don’t need to be the world’s policeman.”

--Ed Lucsynski, mechanic, Clarksville, Tenn.

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“It would be a disgrace to cut and run in a way in which we lost more lives and put more people in jeopardy simply because we went into a national panic.”

--Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), ranking member Senate Foreign Relations Committee

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“I have to study on the ground what ought to be done to maintain peace, to continue the humanitarian assistance and to promote the national reconciliation among the different factions.”

--Boutros Boutros-Ghali, U.N. Secretary General

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“At first they wanted us and now they’ve turned on us. I don’t think sending our boys over there to get killed is the answer.”

--Howard (Curly) Gainous, barber, Ft. Stewart, Ga.

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“We must defend ourselves against this aggression ... We will not bow our heads to those who do not respect our culture and our religion.”

--Mohammed Farah Aidid, fugitive warlord

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“He (President Clinton) has the message, he has it loud and clear and I think we will hear from them shortly.”

--Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.)

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“I think we ought to clean house or get the hell out.”

--Lee Temple, VFW commander, Albany, Ga.

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“I was all for it--and my son was, too, when he first went over--when it was all about saving those starving children. But it seems kind of senseless now. Every time we hear of another soldier killed, it seems our son was killed in vain.”

--Ann Gean, Wilburton, Okla., whose son Anthony Botello was killed by a sniper’s bullet Jan. 25.

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“Are these Rangers the best America can do against the Somalis?”

--Somali in Mogadishu

Sources: Times staff and wire reports