At the time of the US intervention in Somalia late in the presidency of Bush 41, I thought it was one of the dumbest ideas ever. There had been a drumbeat of news reports about Somalia and an attempt to shame the US into intervening. Bush 41, who had just lost reelection largely due to the declining economy, committed US forces to Somalia.
It was also the strangest amphibious landing ever. US news media arrived on the beach in Somalia before the US conduct its unnecessary amphibious landing. There was no opposition on the ground.
Somalia had been a mess for awhile, but Soviet-aligned dictator Mohammed Siad Barre had been overthrown by opposition warlords in 1991. I have never seen anything to show that the US had any role in the coup, but it would have been a typical US coup, especially in the wake of the end of the Soviet Bloc.
The country soon entered civil war. Millions were starving or on the verge and the incessant chattering, “Someone must do something” filled major newspapers and TV networks. CNN, having really come into its own with the Gulf War, now needed a new war to cover.
At the time, foreign affairs pundits were debating what to do in the post-Cold War world. There were serious fears of some that the US would withdraw. Clinton had succeeded somewhat because the Democrats were claiming that there should be a “peace dividend”, that the federal government should suddenly have a lot of money to spend on domestic priorities with the end of the Cold War.
I happened to meet with Senator Harry Reid in the Spring of 1992. He was running for his first reelection and was trying to woo moderate and conservative voters. He used the language of the peace dividend to claim that he would bring federal spending under control and do more things, due to the end of the Cold War. In this small group setting, I called him out on it, noting that even eliminating the entire defense budget at the time would not equal the deficit that year.
This was a pretty brazen move by a college student, but I was confident of my facts and not going to let anyone, including a senator, lie like that. Harry stared at me for about 15 seconds, as everyone became dead quiet. He then agreed with me and offered me a job working for him.
Anyway, there were a number of factors that led to the US intervention. Bush, being the globalist, likely wanted to push the US into being the global hegemon and world’s policeman. However, I suspect he was mostly fishing for a Nobel Prize.
The US forces could not bring peace to Somalia even with a much larger force. The then relatively new Neocons claimed that we could bring peace and democracy to the country.
The real problem came after Clinton took office. Clinton reduced the 25,000 US troops to 1,200. There were still UN troops as well, but local militia of General Aidid killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in June, 1993. To address the issue, Clinton sent in 400 or so Delta, Rangers, and helicopters with the goal of capturing those responsible and bringing them to trial at the end of August, 1993. It was this mission that is depicted in the movie, Black Hawk Down.
The movie itself provides an intense reenactment of the 12 hours or so during which the events took place. A limited number of US troops were to enter a hostile part of Mogadishu via air and ground, capture some key aides to Aidid, and then exit the city in 30 minutes. The movie notes that requests for armor and increased numbers of troops were denied by Washington.
Looking at it 30 years later, it was an utterly ridiculous mission, with full American arrogance on display. Entering a hostile city full of armed militia with only a hundred or so troops was foolhardy. Attempting to arrest some warlord’s henchmen in order to “bring them to justice” via the legal system was even worse. Washington meddled into the mission as well.
This does not even get to the point that there was no reason for the US to be in Somalia in the first place. It did not matter if there was a civil war between several warlord factions. It was just an attempt to secure US as the world’s policeman. There were numerous other conflicts around the world where innocents were dying. Politicians have used this rationale for the 30 years since the Black Hawk Down incident in order to manipulate the public into supporting yet another military intervention.
And now we might be on the verge of opening putting US troops into Ukraine, especially as the might 2023 Ukraine counteroffensive dies a stillborn death. We continue the same old folly led by scoundrels and idiots not much different from those that caused the death of US troops on that day and night in Somalia.
Great commentary. Absolute folly of arrogance.
Will never forget the event, as I was in my cousin's wedding at West Point on Saturday, October 2, 1993. The only non-Academy guy in the bridal party wearing a tux amid a sea of Dress Gray, I felt like the butler to a Hollywood cast of military heroes. About halfway through the reception, a number of the guys started quietly peeling off, with the remainder (including the groom) gone to Fort Benning by morning. Those guys all turned out OK (as the 10th Mountain and other divisions arrived in force after the events of October 3rd, rather than continuing with daring, movie-style Special Ops raids), but the recklessness with which our forces are deployed to this day bothers the sh!t out of me.
I graduated high school in 1995 and despite my staunch patriotism and a variety of family members in the military, I hated Bill Clinton so much, I could not even think of having to serve in the military under him. As feckless and captured as Bush I was, we are still haunted by the candidacy of Ross Perot.