The hugely popular new film “Black Hawk Down” is a riveting tale of war, heroism and death in Somalia in 1993. It recounts the ill-fated mission of 160 U.S. Army Rangers and Delta special operations forces battling thousands of Somali militia in Mogadishu. Two dozen militia leaders were captured, but the battle led to the deaths of 18 American soldiers and hundreds of Somalis.
For many Americans the strongest memory of that engagement is the image of dead, mutilated bodies of U.S. servicemen being dragged through the dusty streets as Somali crowds jeered.
Given those stark images, Americans might be surprised to learn the Bush administration is contemplating what might be considered a rematch.
In a little-noticed military operation, about 2,000 American Marines who fought in Afghanistan have started holding exercises off the coast of Kenya. That puts them in striking range of neighboring Somalia. A small number of U.S. special operations forces have visited Somalia. American, British and French planes are patrolling the region and doing reconnaissance.
The Pentagon hopes to prevent the remnants of Osama bin Laden’s terrorist army from finding sanctuary in the chaos of Somalia. President Bush put the Somali group Unity of Islam on his list of terrorist groups with links to Al Qaeda. He has frozen the assets of the Somali Barakat Company, suspected of funding international terrorism.
Despite the strong public support for the war on terror, one has to wonder if the prospect of engagement in Somalia again will give some people pause. If the U.S. does engage here again, there will be two keys to success: whether the Bush administration has learned from the mistakes of 1992-93, and whether the American public recognizes that the purpose of this mission is far more critical to U.S. interests than was the last one.
This destitute country in the Horn of Africa, divvied up by warlords, has been virtually ungovernable for a decade. Bin Laden found refuge there in the 1990s. Al Qaeda operated training camps there. It served as a launch pad for bin Laden’s terrorist bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
In 1992, President George Bush sent in the Marines not for any U.S. national interest, but to save lives. For a time, they helped feed hundreds of thousands of starving Somalis, ending the warfare between rival clans that had led the country into disaster. But the U.S. and United Nations tried their hand at nation building, picking a fight with the strongest clan leader, Mohamed Farah Aidid, when he refused to share power. The mission overreached, even as the U.S. limited the use of firepower.
The people who arrived to save Somalia came to be perceived as its tormentors. After casualties mounted in 1993–especially in the Oct. 3-4 battle described in Mark Bowden’s book, “Black Hawk Down,” and now the movie–President Bill Clinton pulled out U.S. forces. That encouraged terrorists and despots. America’s pullout from Somalia has been cited by bin Laden as proof of U.S. weakness and vulnerability.
Now, eight years after Somalis downed two U.S. Blackhawk helicopters, leading to the battle of Mogadishu, America is committed to a new war against terrorism. This time, the U.S. would likely find allies among Somali clans, and neighboring powers, to assist its efforts. This time, if American fighters are sent in, they will stand their ground.
It is not clear whether, or in what manner, President Bush will move into Somalia. But if does, he will have to make very clear to the U.S. public this is a far different mission and goal than we handled in the era of “Black Hawk Down.”
