World IN BRIEF : SOMALIA : Officer Takes Blame for U.S. Setback

Army Gen. William Garrison, who led the effort to capture Somali clan leader Mohammed Farah Aidid, told President Clinton that he accepts responsibility for the failed mission and the deaths of 18 Americans in an Oct. 3 battle in Mogadishu, congressional and Pentagon officials said. In a handwritten letter relayed to Clinton, Garrison said a deployment of armored vehicles would not have changed the outcome, officials said. Defense Secretary Les Aspin had come under intense criticism on Capitol Hill earlier for refusing an August request for armor by Maj. Gen. Thomas Montgomery, commander of U.S. forces in Somalia.