Excessive Force

HARRY CONDE HAD HAD ENOUGH. WHEN A 13-YEAR-old reached into the Marine gunnery sergeant's humvee on a busy Mogadishu street and snatched the prescription sunglasses from his face last February, the 33-year-old native of Puerto Rico wheeled and shot the boy in the stomach, also wounding a bystander. He claimed self-defense, arguing that the constant threat of attack from brazen youths in the lawless Somali capital had unnerved him. A court-martial found Conde guilty of aggravated assault, stripped him of his rank and imposed a $1,706 fine. Twelve thousand U.S. servicemen remain in Somalia, though Joint Chiefs Chairman Colin Powell, who visited them last week, says most should depart in the "not too distant future." For many, even the meanest streets of L.A. and Miami will seem a welcome change.