A few things after watching the episode myself.
You have to remember at that time they had no idea what they were getting into, plus it was a sort of peace thing, they went in not knowing how bad it was gonna get and making an attempt to make things better. Its not like the internet where information travels really quickly, so knowing this sort of thing, while easy for you, it wasnt easy for them. Hindsight makes it seem like a obvious bad idea, but more often then not when your in the moment, ya dont think of these things.