September 20th, 2013
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#7
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Doesn't suffer fools well
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 5,740
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U.S. supporting skinnies in Syria...
... The mission in Somalia was seen by many as a failure.[73] The Clinton administration in particular endured considerable criticism for the operation's outcome. The main elements of the criticism surround the administration's decision to leave the region before completing the operation's humanitarian and security objectives, as well as the perceived failure to recognize the threat Al-Qaida elements posed in the region as well as the threat against U.S. security interests at home.[74] Critics claim that
and other members of Al-Qaida provided support and training to Mohammed Farrah Aidid's forces. Osama bin Laden even denigrated the administration's decision to prematurely depart the region stating that it displayed "the weakness, feebleness and cowardliness of the US soldier".[75]
The loss of U.S. military personnel during the Black Hawk Down operation evoked public outcry. Television images of American soldiers being dragged through the streets by Somalis were too graphic for the American public to endure. The Clinton administration responded by scaling down U.S. humanitarian efforts in the region.[75]
On 26 September 2006, in an interview on Fox News with Chris Wallace, former President Bill Clinton gave his version of events surrounding the mission in Somalia. Clinton defended his exit strategy for U.S. forces and denied that the departure was premature. He said conservative Republicans had pushed him to leave the region before the operation's objectives could be achieved: "...[Conservative Republicans] were all trying to get me to withdraw from Somalia in 1993 the next day after we were involved in 'Black Hawk down,' and I refused to do it and stayed six months and had an orderly transfer to the United Nations."[76]
Clinton's remarks would suggest the U.S. was not deterred from pursuing their humanitarian goals because of the loss of U.S. forces during Black Hawk Down. In the same interview, he stated that, at the time, nobody thought Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaida had anything to do with Black Hawk Down's events. He said the mission was strictly humanitarian.[76]
Fear of a repeat of the events in Somalia shaped U.S. policy in subsequent years, with many commentators identifying the Battle of Mogadishu's graphic consequences as the key reason behind the U.S.'s failure to intervene in later conflicts such as the
of 1994. After the battle, the bodies of several U.S. casualties of the conflict were dragged through Mogadishu's streets by crowds of local civilians and members of Aidid's Somali National Alliance. According to the U.S.'s former deputy special envoy to Somalia, Walter Clarke: "The ghosts of Somalia continue to haunt US policy. Our lack of response in
was a fear of getting involved in something like a Somalia all over again."[77]
Links with Al-Qaeda
There have been allegations that
's Al-Qaeda organization was involved in training and funding of Aidid's men. In his 2001 book, Holy War, Inc., CNN reporter
interviewed bin Laden who affirmed these allegations. According to Bergen, bin Laden asserted that fighters affiliated with his group were involved in killing U.S. troops in Somalia in 1993, a claim he had made earlier to the Arabic newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi. The Al-Qaeda fighters in Somalia are rumored to have included the organization's military chief,
, later killed by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Another al-Qaeda operative who was present at the battle was Zachariah al-Tunisi, who allegedly fired an RPG that downed one of the Black Hawk helicopters; he was later killed by an airstrike in Afghanistan in November, 2001.[78]
Aidid's men received some expert guidance in shooting down helicopters from fundamentalist Islamic soldiers, most likely Al-Qaeda, who had experience fighting Russian helicopters during Soviet-Afghan War...[30]
... In March 2013 two survivors from Task Force Ranger returned to Mogadishu with a film crew to shoot a short film BulletProof Faith - Rangers Return to "Black Hawk Down"which will debut in October 2013 on the 20th anniversary of the battle. Author
and country singer/songwriter
relived the battle as they drove through the
in armored vehicles [however] and visited the Wolcott crash site.
Last edited by -JC; September 21st, 2013 at 07:27 PM.
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