DECEMBER 9th

On this date in:
1608	Poet John Milton was born in London.
1854	The poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, was published in England.
1907	Christmas seals went on sale for the first time, at the Wilmington, Del., post office. The proceeds went to fight tuberculosis.
1940	British troops opened their first major offensive in North Africa during World War II.
1941	China declared war on Japan, Germany and Italy.
1958	The anti-Communist John Birch Society was formed in Indianapolis.
1975	President Gerald R. Ford signed a $2.3 billion seasonal loan authorization to prevent New York City from having to default.
1990	Solidarity founder Lech Walesa won Poland's presidential runoff by a landslide.
1993	The Air Force destroyed the first of 500 Minuteman II missile silos marked for elimination under an arms control treaty.
1994	President Bill Clinton fired Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders after she told a conference that masturbation should be discussed in school as a part of human sexuality.
1995	Rep. Kweisi Mfume, D-Md., was chosen to head the NAACP.
2000	The U.S. Supreme Court ordered a temporary halt in the Florida presidential vote count.
2002	United Airlines filed the biggest bankruptcy in aviation history after losing $4 billion in the previous two years.
2004	Canada's Supreme Court ruled that gay marriage was constitutional.

Article of the day

U.S Marines storm Mogadishu, Somalia

On this day in 1992, 1,800 United States Marines arrive in Mogadishu, Somalia, to spearhead a multinational force aimed at restoring order in the conflict-ridden country.

Following centuries of colonial rule by countries including Portugal, Britain and Italy, Mogadishu became the capital of an independent Somalia in 1960. Less than 10 years later, a military group led by Major General Muhammad Siad Barre seized power and declared Somalia a socialist state. A drought in the mid-1970s combined with an unsuccessful rebellion by ethnic Somalis in a neighboring province of Ethiopia to deprive many of food and shelter. By 1981, close to 2 million of the country's inhabitants were homeless. Though a peace accord was signed with Ethiopia in 1988, fighting increased between rival clans within Somalia, and in January 1991 Barre was forced to flee the capital. Over the next 23 months, Somalia's civil war killed some 50,000 people; another 300,000 died of starvation as United Nations peacekeeping forces struggled in vain to restore order and provide relief amid the chaos of war.

In early December 1992, outgoing U.S. President George H.W. Bush sent the contingent of Marines to Mogadishu as part of a mission dubbed Operation Restore Hope. Backed by the U.S. troops, international aid workers were soon able to restore food distribution and other humanitarian aid operations. Sporadic violence continued, including the murder of 24 U.N. soldiers from Pakistan in 1993. As a result, the U.N. authorized the arrest of General Mohammed Farah Aidid, leader of one of the rebel clans. On October 3, 1993, during an unsuccessful attempt to make the arrest, rebels shot down two of the Marines' Black Hawk helicopters and killed 18 U.S. soldiers.

As horrified TV viewers watched images of the bloodshed—-including footage of Aidid's supporters dragging the body of one dead soldier through the streets of Mogadishu, cheering—-President Bill Clinton immediately gave the order for all American soldiers to withdraw from Somalia by March 31, 1994. Other Western nations followed suit. When the last U.N. peacekeepers left in 1995, ending a mission that had cost more than $2 billion, Mogadishu still lacked a functioning government. A ceasefire accord signed in Kenya in 2002 failed to put a stop to the violence, and though a new parliament was convened in 2004, rival factions in various regions of Somalia continue to struggle for control of the troubled nation.

Today Birthdays

Kirk Douglas turns 92 years old today.

AP Photo/Chris Pizzello Actor Kirk Douglas turns 92 years old today.

80 Dick Van Patten Actor ("Eight is Enough") 78 Buck Henry Actor, writer 74 Judi Dench Actress 70 Deacon Jones Football Hall of Famer 67 Beau Bridges Actor 67 Dan Hicks Jazz guitarist 66 Dick Butkus Football Hall of Famer 63 Michael Nouri Actor 61 Tom Daschle Former U.S. senator, D-S.D. 59 Tom Kite Golfer 58 Joan Armatrading Rock singer 56 Michael Dorn Actor 55 John Malkovich Actor 52 Sylvia Country singer 51 Donny Osmond Singer, game show host 50 Nick Seymour Rock musician (Crowded House) 49 Mario Cantone Comedian 47 Joe Lando Actor 43 Jerry Hughes Country musician (Yankee Grey) 41 Thomas Flowers Rock musician (Oleander) 40 Brian Bell Rock musician (Weezer) 39 Jakob Dylan Rock musician (Wallflowers) 39 Brian Hayes Country musician 39 Allison Smith Actress 38 Kara DioGuardi Songwriter, TV personality ("American Idol") 38 David Kersh Country singer 36 Tre Cool Rock musician (Green Day) 34 Canibus Rapper 32 Eric Zamora Saxophonist (Save Ferris) 31 Imogen Heap Rock singer 30 Jesse Metcalfe Actress 28 Simon Helberg Actor ("The Big Bang Theory")