Why did Black Hawk Down go wrong

• Black Hawk Down fails to provide important context surrounding the Battle of Mogadishu, leaving out significant events such as the Bloody Monday raid and the killing of Pakistani soldiers, which led to misunderstandings about American involvement in Somalia.
• The film downplays the role of Pakistani and Malaysian soldiers in the battle, failing to credit them for their crucial support in providing resources and tanks to American soldiers. This lack of acknowledgment has been criticized by former Pakistani President Pervez Musharaff.

Thirty years ago, on October 3, 1993, the Battle of Mogadishu happened. It is also known as the "Battle of the Black Sea" by the US veterans who took part in it, or "Day of the Rangers" by the Somalis, and is popularized as "Black Hawk Down." Ridley Scott directed the film Black Hawk Down, an adaptation of Mark Bowden's book of the same title. The name "Black Hawk Down" emanated from the radio call following the shooting and the ultimate fall of the US war aircraft called "Black Hawk." A revered war film based on a true historical event, Black Hawk Down earned two Oscars, but unfortunately for Scott, he failed to win the Best Director award for the second successive time despite being nominated (the other time being with his Oscar-sweeping Gladiator the previous year). That hasn't dampened Scott's enthusiasm for making historical and period movies, and his upcoming Napoleon is a testament to his passion for retelling history through film. But while Black Hawk Down is acclaimed for being a game changer in depicting war, it has numerous historical inaccuracies. So, what did Ridley Scott's blockbuster get wrong?

Black Hawk Down

The story of 160 elite U.S. soldiers who dropped into Mogadishu in October 1993 to capture two top lieutenants of a renegade warlord, but found themselves in a desperate battle with a large force of heavily armed Somalis.

'Black Hawk Down' Misses Important Context About the Battle of Mogadishu

Telling the story of a war that took place over 24 hours within the course of a film is no walk in the park. Ridley Scott has been praised including by military experts for how he showed the realism of urban warfare in Black Hawk Down. The film remains largely faithful to Mark Bowden's recollection of events in his book. However, while the film attempts to put events leading up to the battle into context using text cards at the beginning, it falls short of some significant facts. For example, the film leaves out the Bloody Monday raid also known as the Abdi House raid or Operation Michigan which took place on July 12th, 1993, and had a significant influence on the Battle of Mogadishu. During the operation, the United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM) attacked the attendants of a meeting that was being held at Mohammed Farrah Aidid's Minister of Defense Abdi Hassan Awale's Mogadishu villa. Bowden notes in his book that casualties from the raid were upwards of 70, confirmed by interviews with various witnesses. This figure is disputed. The UN puts it at 13. American and UNOSOM officials insisted, according to Bowden's book, that the operation was necessary to rid of Aidid's staunch hardliner supporters.

Bowden, many local and foreign journalists including American war correspondent Scott Peterson (in his book Me Against My Brother: At War in Somalia, Sudan and Rwanda) as well as justice organizations like Human Rights Watch disputed the claims stating that the meeting was by clan elders meant to convince Aidid's political party to make peace with UNOSOM. According to Peterson's book, the significance of this raid was that it turned Somalis against Americans and foreigners, and four foreign correspondents covering the conflict were killed by locals. In the film, the locals' rage toward American troops is vivid with their feelings on display in the scene where the "Black Hawk" is shot down. This problematic lack of context to the events in Black Hawk Down gives the impression that Somalis were against Americans who had gone to help them for no apparent reason.

Another contextual misrepresentation in the film is the killing of Pakistani soldiers by Aidid's militia as depicted in the texts at the beginning of the film. While the film notes that, "In June, Aidid's militia ambush and slaughter 24 Pakistani soldiers," it fails to give the context of it. The Pakistani soldiers had reportedly gone to Radio Mogadishu which was popular in the city, and Aidid's mouthpiece against UNOSOM, to inspect an arms cache located at the station. There had been reports circulating beforehand that the UN was planning to seize Aidid's broadcasting infrastructure. The attack on the Pakistani soldiers by Aidid's militia was out of that fear. While Aidid was indeed a feared, ruthless warlord, he was one warlord among many others. His portrayal of the murder of the Pakistani soldiers without this context demonizes Aidid as the sole villain responsible for Somali problems and shows his men as savages who kill for nothing. This is further enhanced in the opening sequence of the film which shows Aidid's militia shooting at benefactors of food aid. At the time of "Black Hawk Down", President George Bush-sanctioned US personnel had already helped alleviate the starvation problem and handed over the program to the UN. The latter in the film, particularly misleads that the American soldier's mission leading to the Battle of Mogadishu was intended to stop Aidid from interfering with food aid for starving citizens, yet the goal of the mission was to arrest or kill Aidid following his involvement in attacking UN peacekeepers. It is this misrepresentation of facts that has led some to criticize the film as a one-sided, American-aggrandizing, rewriting of history.

'Black Hawk Down' Downplays Malaysian & Pakistani Soldiers' Roles

Black Hawk Down doesn't credit Pakistani and Malaysian soldiers who had a significant role in the battle. According to Major Jeff Struecker (portrayed by Brian Van Holt in Black Hawk Down), when the American soldiers ran out of the necessary resources for the battle, they sought the help of the UN, and several countries, particularly Pakistan and Malaysia, came to their rescue. Struecker offered kind words for the Malaysian soldiers whose actions he described as courageous and selfless. He said together with the Pakistani soldiers, they provided them with armor and tanks which was key to their survival in the battle. A Malaysian soldier even lost his life in the rescue mission. This historical fact is not included in Scott's Black Hawk Down. Former Pakistani president the late Pervez Musharaff was dismayed by the lack of acknowledgment of the role his compatriots played in the battle in the film and criticized Black Hawk Down in his autobiography, In the Line of Fire: A Memoir.

Osman Ali Atto Disputes His Portrayal in 'Black Hawk Down'

Osman Ali Atto was Aidid's financier and one of the key assets that the American soldiers captured and interrogated to lead them to Aidid. In Black Hawk Down, Atto (George Harris) is arrested while in transit when the soldiers acting on intelligence, immobilize his three fleet of cars. Also in the film, Atto's capture is largely peaceful as he surrenders upon being cornered. In an interview with the BBC, Atto disputes this portrayal. He says the arrest was bloody. "I was only traveling with one Fiat 124, not three vehicles as it shows in the film," Atto is quoted saying, adding that his car was hit at least 50 times and people were killed.

In Black Hawk Down, Atto is a cigar-smoking, arrogant, sarcastic, earring-wearing big man, a common trope in Hollywood's portrayal of war and drug lords. But in person, Atto is far from the character he's portrayed as in the film. The BBC described Atto as "nothing like that in real life." The BBC further reports that he does not smoke cigars nor does he wear any earrings, which is not only a misrepresentation but also risks cultural appropriation as traditionally, only Somali women wear earrings, and a man in his leadership position for a conservative society as he wouldn't go against such a tradition. However, Atto seems to agree that not everything depicted in the film is untrue, and he agrees that he didn't give his interrogators any information regarding Aidid.

It is not just Atto whose portrayal has raised criticism. The general portrayal of Somalis and Mogadishu is far from reality. Somalis have unique physical Cushitic features and the actors playing Somalis in the film do not represent that. In any case, the film has been criticized for not featuring Somali actors. The language spoken in the film is also not the language spoken in the Horn of Africa country. Mogadishu of the time too, as described in Bowden's book, was colorful. In Scott's Black Hawk Down, it is a ravaged, dull city.

In 'Black Hawk Down', Ewan McGregor's Character's Name Was Changed

In Black Hawk Down, Ewan McGregor plays Ranger John Grimes. Grimes, like the real person he represents, is portrayed as a hero. But the real soldier that Grimes's character represents is Ranger John "Stebby" Stebbins. As per The Guardian, Mark Browden, the screenwriter of the film and the book it is based on has said that he was pressured by Pentagon to change the Stebby's name after the ranger was court-marshaled and found guilty of assault and rape of an underage girl. In the Guardian article, Stebby's wife, Nora Stebbins, wrote to the New York Post lamenting about her ex-husband's heroic portrayal. She wrote in part, "My ex-husband is portrayed as an all-American hero when the truth is he is not."

Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down is a visually stunning and technically impressive film whose realism of war and the feel-good human aspects of sacrifice, working together, and courage stand tall. One of Scott's best works, it is a film you can see again and again, and thirty years after the real event it is based on, perhaps, it's time to see it once more. However, in a world where cinema has so much influence, Black Hawk Down's historical inaccuracies, especially while bearing the tag "based on true events" can significantly impact public understanding of history. Black Hawk Down's inaccuracies while appearing like minor events, are glaring for the Somali culture and people's perception of the Battle of Mogadishu, also known as "Black Hawk Down."

Black Hawk Down is available to rent on Amazon Prime Video in the U.S.

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Battle of Mogadishu (1993)

UN-Somali military incident, October 1993

Battle of Mogadishu
Part of Operation Gothic Serpent, UNOSOM II, and the Somali Civil War
Super Six-Four, one of the Black Hawks shot down, above Mogadishu
Belligerents
United Nations	Somali National Alliance Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya
Commanders and leaders
Khairul Anuar Abd Aziz Abd Aziz Abd Latiff Abdul Latif Ahmad Ikram ul-Hasan	Mohamed Farrah Aidid Sharif Hassan Giumale Hashi Ali
Strength
160 initial forces3,000 rescue forces16 helicopters4 M48 tanks[1]30+ Condor/M113 APCs[2]9 utility vehicles3 trucks	1,500[3]
Casualties and losses
18 killed, 84 wounded[4] 1 killed, 7 wounded 2 wounded	200 killed, 700 wounded (per Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders)[5][6]315 killed (including 133 troops), 812 wounded (per SNA)[7][8]300700 killed (other estimates)[9][10]

The Battle of Mogadishu (Somali: Maalintii Rangers, lit.'Day of the Rangers'), also known as the Black Hawk Down Incident, was part of Operation Gothic Serpent. It was fought on 34 October 1993, in Mogadishu, Somalia, between forces of the United Statessupported by UNOSOM IIagainst the forces of the Somali National Alliance (SNA) and armed irregular citizens of south Mogadishu.

The battle was part of the two-year-old Somali Civil War. The United Nations had initially sent troops to alleviate the 1992 famine, but then began trying to establish democracy and restore a central government. In June 1993, U.N. peacekeepers suffered their deadliest day in decades when the Pakistani contingent was attacked while inspecting a Somali National Alliance weapons-storage site. UNOSOM II blamed SNA leader Mohammed Farah Aidid and launched a manhunt. In July 1993, U.S. forces in Mogadishu raided the Abdi House in search of Aidid, killing many elders and prominent members of Aidid's clan, the Habr Gidr.^[11][12] The raid led many Mogadishu residents to join the fight against UNOSOM II, and the following month, Aidid and the SNA deliberately attacked American personnel for the first time. This, in turn, led President Clinton to dispatch Task Force Ranger to capture Aidid.^[13][14][15]

On 3 October 1993, U.S. forces planned to seize two of Aidid's top lieutenants during a meeting deep in the city. The raid was only intended to last an hour, but morphed into an overnight standoff and rescue operation extending into the daylight hours of the next day. While the goal of the operation was achieved, it was a pyrrhic victory and spiraled into the deadly Battle of Mogadishu.^[16] As the operation was ongoing, Somali forces shot down three American Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters using RPG-7s, with two crashing deep in hostile territory. A desperate defense of the two downed helicopters began and fighting lasted through the night to defend the survivors of the crashes. In the morning, a UNOSOMII armored convoy fought their way to the besieged soldiers and withdrew, incurring further casualties but rescuing the survivors.^[18]

No battle since the Vietnam War had killed so many U.S. troops.^[19] Casualties included 18 dead American soldiers and 73 wounded,^[20] with Malaysian forces suffering one death and seven wounded, and Pakistani forces two injuries.^[21] Somali casualties were far higher; most estimates are between 133 and 700 dead.^[18][10]

After the battle, dead American soldiers were dragged through the streets of Mogadishu by enraged Somalis, an act that was broadcast on American television to public outcry. The battle led to the pullout of the U.N. mission in 1995. Fear of a repeat drove American reluctance to increase its involvement in Somalia and other regions. Some scholars believe that it influenced the Clinton administration's decision not to intervene in the Rwandan genocide, and it has commonly been referred to as "Somalia Syndrome".^{[22][23][24][25]}

Background

In the 1980s Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre broke up the Somali National Army into clan groupings in order to help maintain his control.^[26] A civil war was underway by 198788. Fighting reached the edges of Mogadishu by late 1990 at the latest. Barre fled Mogadishu in late January 1991 for his home region.^[27][28] The main rebel group in the capital Mogadishu was the United Somali Congress (USC),^[27] which later divided into two armed factions: one led by Ali Mahdi Muhammad, who later became president; and the other by Mohamed Farrah Aidid, which became known as USC/Somali National Alliance.^[29]

Severe fighting broke out in Mogadishu between Mahdi and Aidid, then spread throughout the country, resulting in over 20,000 casualties by the end of 1991. The civil war destroyed Somalia's agriculture, which led to starvation in large parts of southern Somalia. The international community began to send food supplies, but muchestimates run from 20 to 80 percentwas hijacked and brought to local clan leaders, who routinely exchanged it with other countries for weapons.^[31] Between 1991 and 1992 an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 people died from starvation and another 1.5 million people suffered from it. This situation was exacerbated by the hijacking of aid convoys and supplies.^[29][32]

In August 1992, U.S. President George H. W. Bush announced that U.S. military aircraft would assist the multinational U.N. relief effort in Somalia. This operation was codenamed Operation Provide Relief. Ten C-130s and 400 people were deployed to Mombasa, Kenya, airlifting aid to Somalia's remote areas and reducing reliance on truck convoys. The C-130s delivered 48,000 tons of food and medical supplies in six months to international humanitarian organizations trying to help Somalia's more than three million starving people.^[29]

When this did not stop the massive death and displacement of the Somali people (500,000 dead and 1.5 million refugees or displaced), the U.S. launched a major coalition operation to assist and protect humanitarian activities in December 1992. This operation, called Restore Hope, saw the U.S. assuming the unified command in accordance with Resolution 794. The U.S. Marine Corps landed the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) in Mogadishu with elements of 2nd Battalion 9th Marines and 3rd Battalion 11th Marines and secured key facilities within two weeks, intending to facilitate humanitarian actions. Elements of the 2nd Battalion 9th Marines HMLA-369 (Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 369 of Marine Aircraft Group 39, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, Camp Pendleton); 9th Marines; quickly secured routes to Baidoa, Balidogle and Kismayo, then were reinforced by the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division.^[29]

The United Nations' intervention, backed by U.S. Marines, has been credited with helping end the famine in Somalia, though the starvation had been improving in the worst-affected areas before troops arrived.^[33] In November 1994, the Washington-based Refugee Policy Group NGO estimated that about 100,000 lives were saved as a result of international assistance, including 10,000 after the deployment of U.S. troops in December 1992.^[32]

Mission shift

On 3 March 1993, United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali submitted to the U.N. Security Council his recommendations for shifting from UNITAF to UNOSOM II. He said that since Resolution 794's adoption in December 1992, UNITAF had deployed 37,000 personnel over forty percent of southern and central Somalia. He said the force's presence and operations had improved Somalia's security situation and the delivery of humanitarian assistance. There was still no effective government, police, or national army, resulting in serious security threats to U.N. personnel. To that end, the Security Council authorized UNOSOM II to establish a secure environment throughout Somalia, to achieve national reconciliation so as to create a democratic state.^[29][35]

At the Conference on National Reconciliation in Somalia, held on 15 March 1993, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, all 15 Somali parties agreed to the terms set out to restore peace and democracy. Within a month or so, however, by May 1993, it became clear that, although a signatory to the March Agreement, Mohammed Farrah Aidid's faction would not cooperate in the Agreement's implementation.^[29]

Attack on Pakistanis and hunt for Aidid

On 5 June 1993, Aidid's militia and Somali citizens at Radio Mogadishu attacked the Pakistani force that was inspecting an arms cache located at the station, out of fear that the United Nations forces had been sent to shut down the SNA's broadcast infrastructure.

Radio was the most popular medium for news in Somalia, and consequently control of the airwaves was considered vital to both the SNA and UNOSOM. Radio Mogadishu was a highly popular station with the residents of Mogadishu,^[36] and rumors that the United Nations was planning to seize or destroy it had been abound for days before 5 June. On May 31, 1993, Aidid's political rivals met with the top UNOSOM official and attempted to convince him to take over Radio Mogadishu, a meeting Aidid was made well aware of.

According to the 1994 United Nations Inquiry in the events leading up to the Battle of Mogadishu:

"Opinions differ, even among UNOSOM officials, on whether the weapons inspections of 5 June 1993 was genuine or was merely a cover-up for reconnaissance and subsequent seizure of Radio Mogadishu."^[38]

The attack marked a seminal moment in the UNOSOM II operation. The Pakistani forces suffered 24 dead and 57 wounded, as well as one wounded Italian and three wounded U.S. soldiers.^[39]

In response, on 6 June 1993, the outraged U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 837, a call for the arrest and prosecution of the persons responsible for the death and wounding of the peacekeepers.^[40] Though Resolution 837 did not name Aidid, it held the Somali National Alliance responsible. The hunt for Aidid became a major focus of the U.N. intervention through the Battle of Mogadishu.^[36]

Admiral Jonathan Howe issued a $25,000 warrant for information leading to Aidid's arrest, while UNOSOM forces began attacking targets all over Mogadishu in hopes of finding him.^[41]

Bloody Monday raid

One such actionthe Abdi House or Bloody Monday raidtook place on the morning of 12 July 1993, as prominent Somalis and high-ranking elders of the Habr Gidr and other Hawiye subclans met at the "Abdi House", a Mogadishu villa belonging to Aidid's Interior Minister, Abdi Hasan Awale.

The reason for the meeting and just who was there is unclear. American and U.N. officials said the conference was a gathering of an SNA war council that included hard-liners and close advisers to Aidid who had directed attacks on UN forces.^[33][42] But this is disputed by the SNA, survivors, and witnesses, whose contention is corroborated by multiple aid and justice organizations such Human Rights Watch and Doctors Without Borders, along with journalists in Mogadishu, such as American war correspondent Scott Peterson. The latter group contend that the meeting drew prominent Habr Gidr members along with members of other Hawiye subclans and clan elders to discuss a peace initiative to end the four-month conflict between the SNA and UNOSOM.^{[19][42][43][44]}

American forces under U.N. authorization were given authority to attack the meeting as part of the campaign to capture or kill Aidid. The mission was given to the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division of the QRF in Mogadishu.^[19]

At 10:18a.m., six American Cobra attack helicopters fired into the summit just as it began.^[19][43][45]

American and U.N. officials said their mission was a successful military strike,^[33][43] timed to kill Aidid's chief lieutenants and carried out accurately, with damage and casualties confined to the compound. Officials described the attack as a blow to the SNA's command structure,^[46] and a setback for the hardliners, opening the way for more cooperative members to take power. According to U.N. officials, the attack killed 13 people, including several of Aidid's high-level commanders and those responsible for the 5 June attack on the Pakistanis.^[46] According to Peterson, the gathering had been publicized in newspapers the day before the attack as a peace gathering, but according to Howe, "The meeting of clan elders seeking peaceful solutions was several blocks away" from the Abdi house meeting.^[19][45] Black Hawk Down author Mark Bowden, after a series of interviews with Howe, disputed the admiral's assertion that the clan elders had been meeting at another location. United Nations Operation in Somalia II's legal department contested the legality and conduct of the raid. UNOSOM II's top justice official in Somalia, Ann Wright, resigned after arguing that the raid had been "nothing less than murder committed in the name of the United Nations" in a memo to Howe.^[49][50][51] A Human Rights Watch report said UNOSOM had produced no evidence to substantiate its claims about the raid.^[42]

According to the Red Cross, there were 215 Somalis casualties, although in the aftermath of the attack they were able to survey the dead and injured at only two of the hospitals in Mogadishu.^[46] A spokesman for Aidid, said 73 were killed including many prominent clan elders, a charge UNOSOM denied.^[43][46] Bowden noted that every eyewitness he interviewed placed the number of dead at 70 or more and that former ambassador and U.S. special envoy to Somalia Robert B. Oakley accepted this figure. He further noted that many of those interviewed, including non-Somali aid workers, would say that many of those killed in the attack had been well-respected Habr Gidr moderates opposed to Aidid. Regardless of the meeting's true intent, the attack is generally considered as the most significant of the many incidents that occurred in 1993 that caused many Somalis to turn against UNOSOM II, especially the U.S. contingent.^{[33][43][52][53]}

Numerous aid and human rights organizations, especially Doctors Without Borders criticized the raid. The president of the organization, Rony Brauman declared that, "For the first time in Somalia there has been a killing under the flag of humanitarianism." Numerous high-ranking personnel of the agency claimed that many at the 12 July meeting had been well-respected representatives from civil society who could have displaced Aidid and further noted that the highest ranking Somali administrator for the city of Merca had been killed at the meeting.^[19][42][44] Human Rights Watch declared that the attack "looked like mass murder" and an American reporter who was present on the scene said that the raid was far deadlier than U.S. and U.N. officials acknowledged.^[42][46] Mark Bowden argued that the raid marked a serious escalation of the conflict in Somalia and was "a monumental misjudgment" and "tragic mistake".^[33][54] The footage recorded of the incident by a Somali cameraman was considered so disturbing that CNN deemed it too graphic to show on air to the American public.^[19] Multiple foreign journalists who traveled to the site of the raid were attacked by an angry mob. Five journalists were killed, resulting in the pullout of numerous media organizations in Mogadishu which contributed to the lack of coverage of the October 34 battle.In the view of Robert B. Oakley, "Before July 12th, the U.S. would have been attacked only because of association with the UN, but the U.S. was never singled out until after July 12th".^[13] The strike was the first time the U.N. forces in Somalia had specifically targeted people instead of armaments caches, marking a turning point in what had been a low intensity conflict.^[56] In the two and half years since the civil war had started, Bloody Monday represented the single deadliest attack in Mogadishu.^[19] To the Habr Gidr, including the former moderates and even other clans that had opposed them during the civil war, the raid marked the beginning of war with the American contingent, which culminated in the Battle of Mogadishu three months later.^[43][56][57] The events of Bloody Monday led Aidid to make the decision to specifically target American soldiers for the first time and resulted in the 8 August killings of U.S. troops that pushed President Clinton to send in extra troops to capture him.^[58]

The August killings and the deployment of Task Force Ranger

In the three weeks following the events of Bloody Monday there was a large lull in UNOSOM operations in Mogadishu, as the city had become incredibly hostile to foreign troops. Then on 8 August, in an area of the city that had been considered "relatively safe to travel in", the SNA detonated a bomb against a U.S. military Humvee, killing four soldiers. A total of only three American soldiers had died in the intervention, marking the 8 August incident as the largest single killing of U.S. troops in Somalia so far.^[59][60]

Two weeks later another bomb injured seven more. In response, U.S. President Bill Clinton approved the proposal to deploy a task force composed of elite special forces units, including 400 U.S. Army Rangers and Delta Force operators.^[62]

On 22 August 1993, the unit deployed to Somalia under the command of Major General William F. Garrison, commander of the special multi-disciplinary Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) at the time.^[63]

The force consisted of:

Earlier Black Hawk shootdown

In September, Somali militia used RPGs to attack U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopters, damaging at least one that managed to return to base.

Then, at 2 a.m. on 25 Septembera week before the Battle of Mogadishuthe SNA used an RPG to shoot down a Black Hawk (callsign Courage 53) while it was on patrol.^[66][67] The pilots were able to fly their burning aircraft away from Aideed's turf to the more UNOSOM-friendly port of Mogadishu and make a crash landing. The pilot and co-pilot survived, but three crew members were killed. A shootout ensued as peacekeepers fought to the helicopter.^[67] The event was a propaganda victory for the SNA.^[69][70] The chief UNOSOM II spokesman in Mogadishu, U.S. Army Maj. David Stockwell, referred to the downing as "a very lucky shot."^[70]

Order of battle

U.S. and UNOSOM

Units involved in the battle:

• Task Force Ranger, including:
• Task Force-10th Mountain Division,^[71] including:
  • 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment
  • 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment
  • 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment
  • 3rd platoon, C Company, 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment
  • 41st Engineer Battalion, 10th Mountain Division^[74]
  • 15th Battalion, of the Frontier Force Regiment, Pakistan Army^[75]
  • 19th Lancers of the Pakistan Army^[75]
  • 10th Battalion, of the Baloch Regiment of Pakistan Army
  • 977th Military Police Company
• United Nations Operation in Somalia II:

Somali National Alliance and Irregular forces

The Somali National Alliance (SNA) was formed in June 1992, following a successful defence by many factions against an offensive by Somali dictator Siad Barre, in his attempt to retake Mogadishu. During the UNOSOM hunt for Aidid, the SNA was composed of multiple political organizations such as, Col. Omar Gess' Somali Patriotic Movement, the Somali Democratic Movement, the combined Digil and Mirifleh clans, the Habr Gedir of the United Somali Congress headed by Aidid, and the newly established Southern Somali National Movement.^[78]

The size and structure of the SNA forces involved in the battle are not known in detail. Estimates of combatants widely vary, with figures often set to over a thousand possible fighters engaging at different points over the 17 hour battle. Estimates of SNA fighters during the battle are complicated by the many volunteers who impromptu joined skirmishes with foreign troops and the organizations use of 'for hire' gunmen. Most of the fighters who participated belonged to the Somali National Alliance, drawing largely from Aidids Habar Gidir sub-clan of the Hawiye, who began fighting U.S. troops following the Abdi House raid of 12 July 1993. According to Stephen Biddle, there were presumably 1,500 SNA fighters present in the entirety of Mogadishu.^[18]

Colonel Sharif Hassan Giumale, Deputy Commander of the SNA High Commission on Defense, was the tactical commander who directly commanded the operations of Somali National Alliance troops on the ground during the Battle of Mogadishu.^[81] Giumale, a 45-year-old former Somali army officer and brigade commander, had attended a Soviet military academy in Odessa and had later gone to Italy for further study.^[82] He had gathered combat experience in the Somali National Army during the Ogaden War with Ethiopia in the late 1970s and following the outbreak of the civil war in 1991.^[81][83] Many of the tactics Aidid, Giumale and other subordinate SNA commanders drew on were inspired by Chinese and Vietnamese books on guerrilla warfare and on advice from Somali mujahedeen veterans, who had just returned from the SovietAfghan War.^[81][84]

Despite the substantial array of heavier weaponry in SNA stockpiles, none were used during the October 34 battle. SNA forces were primarily equipped with light infantry weaponry, like the AK-47 assault rifle. Experienced fighters supplemented the main forces with RPG-7 grenade launchers, sniper rifles, mortars, mines, and machine guns.^[18]

Irregular Somali forces/Volunteers

During the October 34 battle, SNA forces fought alongside hundreds of irregularsU.S. Special Envoy to Somalia Robert B. Oakley called them "volunteers"who were mostly untrained civilians-turned-combatants, many of whom were women and children with grievances against UNOSOM troops.^[14][81] Human rights abuses and killings by peacekeepers, U.S. military airstrikes in heavily populated neighborhoods resulting in civilian casualties, forced evictions for UN compound expansions and the difficulty of receiving legal recourse for wrongs committed by United Nations forces all inflamed the growing animosity of the civilian population of Mogadishu.^[52][53][85] In the days preceding the battle, Somali anger against UNOSOM troops was stoked when American mortar crews had fired shells into the dense neighborhoods surrounding their base, killing a family of eight and injuring 34. This enraged the citizens of South Mogadishu, according to American journalist Scott Peterson.^[86]

Large numbers of Somalis not affiliated with the SNA spontaneously joined the fight alongside the SNA during the battle, as small arms were widely distributed and among the civilian population of Mogadishu.^[18] The irregulars often complicated the situation on the ground for SNA commanders, as they were not controllable and often got in the way by demanding ammunition and burdening the militia's medical evacuation system.^[87] A significant element of the volunteers consisted of elderly people, women and children who utilized small arms.^[81] Many volunteers did not actually take part in combat, but instead operated as reconnaissance or runners for SNA militia.^[81]

Many of the volunteers during the Battle of Mogadishu came from rival clans. Members of the Abgal and Habar Gidr clans, who had destroyed large swathes of Mogadishu fighting each other only a few months earlier, fought side by side against UNOSOM forces.^[19] Somali fighters from Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya also joined the battle.^[89]

Planning

On the morning of 3 October 1993, a locally recruited intelligence asset reported to the CIA that two of Aidid's principal advisors in the SNA, Omar Salad Elmi and Abdi Hassan Awale, would be meeting near the Olympic Hotel (20304.1N 451928.9E / 2.051139N 45.324694E / 2.051139; 45.324694 (Target)). The asset said that Aidid and other high-ranking figures would possibly be present.^[90] The Olympic Hotel and the surrounding Bakara market was considered Habr Gidr territory and very hostile, as the clan made up a significant composition of the SNA militia. UNOSOM forces had refused to enter the area during previous engagements with the SNA.^[90]

The plan to capture the targets was relatively straightforward. First, the Somali CIA asset would drive to the site of the meeting and open the hood of his vehicle to mark the building for surveillance aircraft overhead.^[90] Delta operators would then assault and secure the building using MH-6 Little Bird helicopters. Four Ranger chalks under Captain Michael D. Steele would fast-rope from hovering MH-60L Black Hawks. The Rangers would then create a four-corner defensive perimeter around the target building to ensure that no enemy could get in or out. Fast-roping was deemed necessary for the raid as the Black Hawks had no suitable landing zone to deploy troops.^[90][91]

Special operations forces consisting of Bravo Company 3rd Battalion, the 75th Ranger Regiment; the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta; and the 160th Aviation Battalion, would capture Omar Salad Elmi and Mohamed Hassan Awale.^[92] A column of 12 vehicles (nine Humvees and three M939 trucks) under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Danny McKnight would arrive at the building to take the assault team and their prisoners back to base. The entire operation was projected to take no longer than 30 minutes.^[93]

SNA defence strategy

The Somali National Alliance had divided South Mogadishu into 18 military sectors, each with its own field officer on alert at all times and a radio network linking them together.^[81] The SNA had an excellent grasp of the area around the Olympic Hotel, as it was their home turf, and had created an effective mobilization system that allowed commanders to quickly mass troops within 30 minutes into any area of South Mogadishu.^[81]

Col. Sharif Hassan Giumale had carefully analyzed Task Force Ranger's previous six operations in Mogadishu and attempted to apply lessons from the civil war and from his extensive reading on guerrilla insurgencies, particularly the FLMN in El Salvador, who had developed anti-aircraft tactics with infantry weapons.^[82][94] After close observation, he had hypothesized the American raids stressed speed, so the SNA had to react more quickly. It was clear that the Americans greatest technological advantage in Mogadishuand its Achilles' heel, the helicopter, had to be neutralized during one of the ranger raids. This would completely negate the American element of speed and surprise, which would consequently draw them into a protracted fight with his troops. An attacking force of militia would then surround the target and offset the superior American firepower with sheer numbers. Ambushes and barricades would be utilized in order to impede UNOSOM reinforcements.^[81][82]

Knowing U.S. special forces considered themselves elite, Giumale believed that they were hubristically underrating the tactical capacity of SNA fighters, who had months of urban fighting experience in the streets of Mogadishu.^[82] According to Washington Post reporter Rick Atkinson, most U.S. commanders in Mogadishu had underestimated the number of rocket-propelled grenades available to the SNA, and misjudged the threat they posed to helicopters.^[87]

Raid

At 13:50, Task Force Ranger analysts received intelligence of Omar Salad's location and the command was given to begin the operation. The code word "Irene" was called across radio channels, signaling the soldiers, vehicle convoys, and helicopters staged at Mogadishu International Airport to move out.^[95] Led by the MH-6 Little Birds, 16 helicopters took off from the airport to make the approximately four-minute flight to the target site. In an attempt to deceive Somali forces, the formation flew past the target before turning around en masse.^[96] American aircrew noticed soon after takeoff that Somalis had started to light burning tires around the city, a tactic the SNA had previously used to signal incursions and launch counterattacks.^[18]

At 15:42, the Little Birds carrying the Delta operators reached the target. Dust surrounding the area was so bad that one helicopter was forced to land out of position. Almost immediately after the first landing, a pilot began noticing small-arms fire.^[97] Then two Black Hawks carrying the second Delta assault team led by Delta Captain Austin S. Miller came into position and dropped their teams as the four Ranger chalks prepared to rope onto the four corners surrounding the target building. Chalk Four, carried by Black Hawk Super 67, piloted by CW3 Jeff Niklaus and CW2 Sam Shamp, was accidentally put a block north of their intended point (20305.5N 451927.9E / 2.051528N 45.324417E / 2.051528; 45.324417 (Chalk Four)). Chalk Four declined the pilot's offer to move them back down, saying it would take too long and leave the helicopter too exposed. Once on the ground, Chalk Four intended to move down to the planned position, but intense ground fire prevented them from doing so.^{[citation needed]}

According to high ranking Somali National Alliance officials, 10 minutes of general confusion followed the arrival of the Black Hawks,^[98] but after getting a basic understanding of the situation, SNA Col. Sharif Hassan Giumale gave out the order over radio to officers across Mogadishu to start converging on the site of the battle and to begin organizing ambushes along likely reinforcement routes from the UNOSOM bases.^[87] Ten minutes later, the roads surrounding the Olympic Hotel were covered with militia and nearly sealed.^[19] SNA platoons arriving from other parts of South Mogadishu splintered into a half-dozen squads of about six or seven men. After the initial call to arms, the SNA commanders ceased radio transmissions, knowing that the Americans could jam and intercept their communications, opting to instead rely on hand-written dispatches and couriers.^[81][87]

The ground-extraction convoy was supposed to reach the captive targets a few minutes after the operation's beginning, but it was impeded by Somali citizens and local militia who formed barricades along Mogadishu's streets with rocks, wreckage, rubbish and burning tires. Some 10 minutes later, it arrived near the Olympic Hotel (020301.6N 451928.6E / 2.050444N 45.324611E / 2.050444; 45.324611 (Olympic Hotel)), down the street from the target building, where it waited for Delta and Rangers to complete their mission.

During the operation's first moments, Private First Class Todd Blackburn lost his grip while fast-roping from Super 67 as it hovered, and fell 70 feet (21m) onto the street. Blackburn received severe injuries and required evacuation by a column of three Humvees. While taking Blackburn back to base, Sergeant Dominick Pilla, assigned to one of the Humvees being pelted with heavy fire from the surrounding buildings, was killed instantly when a bullet struck his head, becoming the first American killed in the battle.^[100]

The Humvee column arrived back at base, riddled with bullet holes and emitting smoke.

First Black Hawk down

About 40 minutes after the assault began, one of the Black Hawks, Super 61, piloted by CW3 Cliff "Elvis" Wolcott, was struck by an RPG-7 that sent the helicopter into an uncontrollable spin. The helicopter crashed in a residential area, coming to rest against a building wall in an alleyway about 300 yards east of the target building (020309.4N 451934.8E / 2.052611N 45.326333E / 2.052611; 45.326333 (Super 61)).^[87] Both pilots were killed in the resulting crash and two of the crew (Staff Sgt. Ray Dowdy and Staff Sgt. Charlie Warren) were severely wounded. Two snipers, Staff Sergeant Daniel Busch and Sergeant Jim Smith, survived the crash and began defending the crash site.

SNA militiamen in the area began calling out local residents, shouting on megaphones, "Come out and defend your homes!" The militia fighters, in organized squads, quickly began to fan in and out of nearby buildings, alleys and trees to avoid the Little Bird helicopters converging to cover the wreck of Super 61.^[81] A nearby MD Helicopters MH-6 Little Bird, Star 41, quickly flew down to the Black Hawk crash site. The pilot, CW3 Karl Maier, steadied the controls in his left hand and fired a machine gun with his right, while the copilot, CW4 Keith Jones, dashed into the alley and helped the two Delta snipers, one of them mortally wounded, into the back of their helicopter.^[87]

A combat search and rescue (CSAR) team was dispatched in Black Hawk Super 68. Led by Delta Captain Bill J. Coultrup. the 15 man CSAR (including USAF Sergeant Scott C. Fales, and USAF Sergeant Timothy A. Wilkinson, and USAF Staff Sergeant Jeffrey W. Bray) team fast roped down to the Super 61 crash site.^[87] While the last two men were rappelling, an SNA RPG hit the Black Hawk, nearly severing the main rotor blades.^[87] Super 68, piloted by CW3 Dan Jollota and Maj. Herb Rodriguez, limped back to base.^[87]

The CSAR team found both the pilots dead and two wounded inside the crashed helicopter. Under intense fire, the team moved the wounded men to a nearby collection point, where they built a makeshift shelter using kevlar armor plates salvaged from Super 61's wreckage.^[102] Communications were confused between the ground convoy and the assault team. The assault team and the ground convoy waited for 20 minutes to receive their orders to move out. Both units were under the mistaken impression that they were to be first contacted by the other.^[103]

Second Black Hawk down

About 16:40, a Black Hawk with the callsign Super 64 and piloted by Michael Durant was orbiting almost directly over the wreckage of Super 61. It was spotted by Yusuf Dahir Mo'alim, commander of a seven-man SNA RPG team that was slowly moving up towards the first crash site. One of the men in Mo'alim's squad knelt down on the road, aimed at Super 64's tail rotor and fired. The RPG hit the tail rotor, but the helicopter initially seemed to be fine. A few moments later, the rotor assembly disintegrated and the helicopter began to lurch forward and spin violently. It quickly dropped 100 feet, narrowly avoiding the large buildings in the area but slamming into a group of tin shacks in an upright position (020249.7N 451935.1E / 2.047139N 45.326417E / 2.047139; 45.326417 (Super 64)).^[87][104] The crash destroyed several homes and produced flying debris that killed numerous Somalis, but elicited a cheer from the many Somalis gathered nearby.^[81] Enraged local residents who had seen the crash amassed in a crowd and pushed towards Super 64.^[81]

In the half-hour after the loss of Super 64, desperate U.S. commanders unsuccessfully attempted to relieve the besieged troops. A small Ranger relief column was dispatched from the airfield, only to lose two Humvees and three soldiers within one kilometer of the base. SNA commanders had anticipated the American response and had set up numerous coordinated ambushes.^[84] A few minutes later, Charlie Company of 10th Mountain Division's Quick Reaction Force also tried to leave but was ambushed on Via Lenin road by SNA militia. In the break-out attempt, about 100 U.S. soldiers fired nearly 60,000 rounds of ammunition and used hundreds of grenades in 30 minutes before being forced to withdraw to the airfield.^[105] Due to constant ambushes and incessant Somali resistance, it would take nine more hours for the QRF ground forces to reach the besieged troops.^[87]

At the second crash site, two Delta snipers, Master Sergeant Gary Gordon and Sergeant First Class Randy Shughart, were inserted by Black Hawk Super 62. Their first two requests to be inserted were denied, but a third request was approved after the QRF troops were ambushed. After 10 minutes of Super 62 giving fire support to the Delta snipers, an RPG slammed into the cockpit, ripping straight through the engine and knocking the copilot unconscious. Despite the damage, Super 62, piloted by CWO Mike Goffena and Captain James Yacone, was able to vacate the area and make a crash landing a safe distance away from the battle.^[87]

Lacking fire support, the snipers were overrun and Gordon was fatally wounded. Shughart picked up Gordon's CAR-15 and gave it to Durant. Shughart went back around the helicopter's nose and held off the crowd for about 10 more minutes before he was killed.^[104] The crash site was then overrun and all the crew members were killed except Durant. He had nearly been beaten to death, then captured by Yusuf Dahir Mo'alim.^[81][104]

For their actions, Gordon and Shughart would be posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, the first awarded since the Vietnam War.^[71]

Defence of crash sites

Back at the first crash site, about 90 Rangers and Delta Force soldiers found themselves under heavy Somali fire. Despite air support, they were effectively trapped for the night. The Rangers and Delta had spread over a two-block area and were fighting against enemies who were sometimes only a door away.^[81] Seeking shelter and a place to safeguard their wounded, the Americans had occupied four houses on Freedom Road, detaining about 20 Somalis who lived there. Several children were locked alone in the bathroom until soldiers let them rejoin their mothers, who would later allege that they had been handcuffed by the Americans.^[87]

At 6:40p.m., Col. Sharif Hassan Giumale, in charge of managing the majority of the Somali forces on the ground, received written instruction from Aidid to repel any reinforcements and take all measures necessary to prevent the Americans from escaping.^[81] About 360 militiamen had encircled the first helicopter, along with hundreds of other armed Somalis volunteers and irregulars not associated with the SNA.^[87]

Knowing the Americans were well entrenched in defensive positions they had taken on the four houses on Freedom Road, Col. Giumale ordered six 60mm mortars emplaced between 21 October Road and Armed Forces Street to obliterate the buildings. Before the assault was carried out an SNA officer came to Col. Giumale with the relatives of the Somalis detained in the homes and warned that there were women and children present in the building. Following the news of the civilian presence, Giumale sent a dispatch to another SNA commander, Col. Hashi Ali, that the mortars were to be held in abeyance except to harass UNOSOM reinforcements. Aidid would later send a dispatch agreeing with Giumales decision to halt the mortars, as he did not want the local civilian population to turn against the SNA.^[81] American officers who were later made privy Giumale's decision conceded that the presence of the civilians prevented an attack, but disputed the notion that the mortars were powerful enough to wipe out Task Force Ranger. They contended that anti-mortar radar and Little Bird helicopters would have likely destroyed any mortar position after only firing one or two rounds.^[87] The SNA alleged that the Americans had used Somali civilians as human shields to protect themselves, a charge which American officials vehemently denied and countered that the civilians were not hostages.^[19]

While the U.S. forces waiting for relief held their position in the homes, AH-6 Little Birds, working in pairs and flying all night long, constantly strafed and pushed back the creeping forces of militia and have consequently been credited with keeping besieged Americans alive until dawn.^[18][81][83] As night came many of the volunteers and irregulars departed from the battle, leaving the experienced SNA fighters behind. U.S. soldiers would notice that the shooting became less frequent but far more accurate. A U.S. participant in the firefight would later remark, "They used concealment very well. Usually all you saw of a shooter was the barrel of his weapon and his head."^[18]

Relief convoy

Several more rescue attempts were launched from Mogadishu airport to relieve the troops in the city. A rescue convoy led by US Lt. Colonel Lawrence Casper was forced to call a retreat after reaching the KM4 junction in downtown Mogadishu, where they came under intense rifle and RPG fire. Reinforcements were unable to push further and it consequently took several hours to muster a force capable of pushing into the city.

Prior to the operation, there was no contingency planning or coordination with U.N. forces; consequently, the recovery of the surrounded American troops was significantly complicated and delayed. The mission had been kept secret even from top UN commanders, out of fear of tipping off Somali informants.^[107] Several UN contingents were hesitant to join the rescue operation. A relief column was hastily formed, primarily composed of Malaysian mechanized infantry companies, a Pakistani tank platoon, and US infantry.^[84] At 11 pm, this convoy, consisting of around 100 vehicles - including four Pakistani M48 tanks, M113 APC's, Malaysian Condor APCs, American HMMWVs, and multiple M939 five-ton flatbed trucks - advanced into the city led by the Pakistani tanks.^[108] This extensive column, spanning two miles, received air support from additional Black Hawks, OH-58's and Cobra attack helicopters provided by the 10th Mountain Division QRF. At the same time, Task Force Ranger's "Little Birds" helicopters were focused on safeguarding the crew and rescuers of the downed Super 61. The convoy experienced significant losses, with many wounded and several killed.^[76][77][84]

As the convoy navigated through downtown Mogadishu and proceeded onto National Street, the first two Malaysian armored vehicles, which were carrying US troops, mistakenly deviated from their path. They were hit concurrently by RPG-7 and emplaced heavy machine gun fire,^[84] resulting in the death of a Malaysian driver and injuries to numerous others. To find immediate cover, a US lieutenant detonated an explosive charge on a neighboring wall, enabling the troops to seek refuge in a nearby courtyard.^[87] After two Malaysian APC's were destroyed, the Pakistani tanks became target for the RPG's, and responded by firing back into the city with their 105mm guns.^[108] As the convoy was pelted by heavy automatic weapons fire, American Lt. Colonel Bill David ordered the force to push forward, knowing that staying in the kill zone meant certain destruction.^[84] While driving on National Street, the convoy faced a series of ambushes, battling its way for the subsequent three hours before eventually splitting into two groups.^[87]

Around the Olympic Hotel, one of the convoys came under a significant volume of fire, resulting in several more casualties and leading to the Malaysian APC's refusing to advance further into the heavy barrage. Mk19 equipped US Humvee's fired a large volume of 40mm grenades to clear out key Somali firing points around the hotel, while US troops dismounted and began engaging with Somali fighters in street skirmishes in order to advance.^[108] At 1:55 am on 4 October 1993, the relief convoy reached Task Force Ranger forces.^[87]

Mogadishu Mile and conclusion

Though Mohamed Farah Aidid had hours earlier given the order to Colonel Sharif Hassan Giumale to prevent the escape of any American soldiers, he had begun to become increasingly concerned with the mounting Somali death toll and the prospect of inviting a large scale retaliation if the remaining U.S. troops holding out were killed. Aidid believed he had already inflicted a heavy casualties on the Americans and with Durant now in his possession as hostage, he claimed in an interview with journalists to have ordered a corridor to be opened up as dawn broke.^[109] Despite Aidid's command, U.N. forces faced fierce shooting until they withdrew.^[18] Historian Stephen Biddle noted, "it was the UN, not the SNA, that disengaged to end the fighting. The relief column that ultimately extracted TF Ranger had to fight its way into and out of the Bakara Market; SNA fighters were resisting fiercely until UN forces crossed out of Aideed's zone of control and withdrew to their bases."^[18]

While leaving the crash site, a group of Rangers and Delta operators led by SSG John R. Dycus realized that there was no room left in the vehicles for them and instead used the vehicles as cover. Forced to depart the city on foot, they proceeded to a rendezvous point at the intersection of Hawlwadig Road and National Street. This has been commonly referred to as the "Mogadishu Mile".^[45] In the last few panicked minutes of the battle, with the convoy operating in a long column with staggered stops and starts, some vehicles ended up making a dash to Mogadishu Stadium, accidentally leaving behind soldiers and forcing them to trek on foot. As the convoy drove back to base AH-1 Cobras and Little Birds provided covering fire overhead while Pakistani tanks fired at any buildings in the city where they had received hostile fire.^[81]

Ten minutes later, the convoy reached the safety of the Pakistani base and a field medical hospital set up. The battle was over by 06:30 on Monday, 4 October. U.S. forces were finally evacuated to the U.N. base by the armored convoy. By 7 am, all survivors had reached safety at an aid station inside the stadium on 21 October Road.^[81][87]

Aftermath

After the battle, the bodies of several of the conflict's U.S. casualties (Black Hawk Super 64's crewmembers and their defenders, Delta Force soldiers MSG Gordon and SFC Shughart) were dragged through Mogadishu's streets by a large crowd of Somalis.^[110] After being asked to justify the incident in an interview with American television, Captain Haad of Somali National Alliance claimed that the bodies of the U.S. soldiers had been dragged through the streets by enraged civilians/irregulars who had lost dozens of friends and family, and that the actual SNA soldiers had not partaken in the incident.^[111] He would further point to the July 12, 1993, Abdi House Raid that had first led the SNA to begin target U.S. soldiers saying, "Wouldn't you be very sorry about 73 of our elder men, of our religious leaders, of our most prominent people, having their bodies mutilatedwe collected parts of their bodies from the building in which they were attackedif you were a son of one of those people killed on that day, what would be your situation, how would you feel?"^[111] Several days after the incident, the SNA issued a public appeal, stating that despite the "wanton destruction and suffering beyond human comprehension" inflicted by UNOSOM II and US forces, the alliance urged respect towards the deceased, injured, and prisoners of war; in accordance with Islamic principles.^[112]

On 6 October 1993, U.S. President Bill Clinton would personally order General Joseph P. Hoar to cease all combat operations against Somali National Alliance, except in self defence. General Hoar would proceed to relay the stand down order to Generals William F. Garrison of Task Force Ranger and Thomas M. Montgomery of the American Quick Reaction Force. The following day on 7 October, Clinton publicly announced a major change in course in the mission.^[113] Substantial U.S. forces would be sent to Somalia as short term reinforcements, but all American forces would be withdrawn from the country by the end of March 1994.^[114] He would firmly defend American policy in Somalia but admitted that it had been a mistake for American forces to be drawn into the decision "to personalize the conflict" to Aidid. He would go on to reappoint the former U.S. Special Envoy for Somalia Robert B. Oakley to signal the administrations return to focusing on political reconciliation.^[113] Clinton expressed surprise that the battle had even occurred^[115] and later claimed that he had decided on a diplomatic solution before the incident. Despite his apparent reservations, there had been no direct orders previously given to Task Force Ranger to halt operations against the SNA. The stand down order given to U.S. forces in Somalia led other UNOSOM II contingents to effectively avoid any confrontation with the SNA. This led to the majority of UNOSOM patrols in Mogadishu to cease and numerous checkpoints in SNA controlled territory to be abandoned.^[113]

On 9 October 1993, Special Envoy Robert B. Oakley arrived in Mogadishu to obtain the release of captured troops and to consolidate a ceasefire with the Somali National Alliance.^[113][116] Oakley and General Anthony Zinni would both engage in direct negotiations with representatives of the SNA. It was made clear that the manhunt was over, but that no conditions put forward by the SNA would be accepted for the release of prisoners of war. On 14 October, Aidid announced in a brief appearance on CNN the release of Black Hawk pilot Michael Durant.^[113] Three months later all SNA prisoners in U.N. custody were released including Aidid's lieutenants Omar Salad Elmi and Mohamed Hassan Awale, who had been the targets of the 3 October raid.^[87]

Result of the battle

Six months after the Battle of Mogadishu all U.S. forces would pull out of Somalia, leaving behind a 20,000 man UNOSOM force that would withdraw in 1995.^[117][114]

Two weeks after the battle, General Garrison, in a handwritten letter to President Clinton, took full responsibility for the battle's outcome. He would argue that Task Force Ranger had met their objectivecapturing the targets of value.^[118] General Garrison had noted before the Battle of Mogadishu that if a serious firefight was had with the SNA, "...we'll win the gunfight, but we might lose the war."^[119]

The SNA leadership had the express goal of expelling U.S. forces from Somalia following the Abdi House Raid, and knew that the Americans would not be able to tolerate casualties, especially in a conflict they had no real stake. They believed that inflicting any notable casualties on the Americans would cause Congress and the public to turn against participation in UNOSOM II and withdraw from Somalia.^[81][119] The SNA's objective was not to achieve a tactical military victory against the Americans and UNOSOM, but to sap their will to continue fighting and force a complete disengagement from Somalia.^[81] In Losing Mogadishu: Testing US Policy in Somalia, Johnathan Stevenson argued that the Americans had not recognized that, much like the North Vietnamese guerrillas, the Somali National Alliance was deliberately executing a military philosophy of attrition in order to achieve victory in spite of a high kill ratio, knowing they could absorb far more losses than the Americans would be able to tolerate.^[119]

Known casualties and losses

Somalia

The Somali casualties were a mixture of militiamen, irregulars/volunteers, and local civilians, and the exact number of dead is unknown. Estimates greatly vary from several hundred to several thousand militiamen and civilians killed,^[121][122] with injuries around 8004,000.^[123] The International Committee of the Red Cross estimated that 200 Somalis were killed and several hundred wounded in the fighting.^[124] Doctors Without Borders reported 200 deaths and 700 injured.^[125] Somali estimates placed casualties at 312 dead, 814 wounded.^[4][87] The Somali National Alliance reported 133 of their troops had been killed during the battle.^[10] Aidid himself claimed that 315civilians and militiawere killed and 812 wounded, figures which the Red Cross considered 'plausible'.^[126] Mark Bowden's book Black Hawk Down claims 500 Somalis killed and more than 1,000 wounded.^[127]

Somali civilians suffered heavy casualties due to the dense urban character of the portion of Mogadishu that fighting took place in. According to Captain Haad of the Somali National Alliance, the civilian death toll was "...almost uncountable, because the place where the fire took place is one of the busiest sectors of Mogadishu...each bullet fired in one direction might have killed four or five or six persons, because the place is very populous."^[111] According to American war correspondent Scott Peterson, about one-third of the Somali casualties were women and children.^[19] The non-SNA volunteers, mostly untrained civilians turned combatant with grievances against UNOSOM troops, were a significant issue for Somali National Alliance commanders as they complicated situation on the ground and often got themselves killed with their inexperience.^[87] Experienced soldiers were seen pleading with enraged crowds of Somalis not to go near the crash sites as the Americans were spraying into the approaching masses.^[18] One high-ranking SNA official complained after the battle, "...everybody tried to attack, they came this way, they went that way. If people had left it to the militia and the officers, it would have been no problem."^[128]

Ambassador Robert B. Oakley, the U.S. special representative to Somalia, is quoted as saying: "My own personal estimate is that there must have been 1,500 to 2,000 Somalis killed and wounded that day, because that battle was a true battle...Helicopter gunships were being used as well as all sorts of automatic weapons on the ground by the U.S. and the United Nations. The Somalis, by and large, were using automatic rifles and grenade launchers and it was a very nasty fight, as intense as almost any battle you would find."^[129] Most of the Somalis death toll is attributed to the numerous helicopter gunship runs in the narrow alleyways of Mogadishu made by MH-6 Little Birds in support of the U.S. ground forces.^[130]

United States

At the time, the battle was the deadliest United States Army/Marines fighting since the Vietnam War.^[19] Two days after, a 19th soldier, Delta operator SFC Matt Rierson, was killed in a mortar attack. That same day, a team on special mission Super 64 incurred two wounded.^[131]

The U.S. Department of Defense initially reported that five American soldiers had been killed. Post-action accounting eventually reached a total of 18 U.S. soldiers killed in action, and another 84 wounded in action.^{[4][132][133]}

Name	Action	Medal(s) Awarded (Posthumously)
Operators of the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta
MSG Gary Ivan Gordon	Killed defending Super Six-Four's crew	Medal of Honor, Purple Heart[71]
SFC Randy Shughart	Killed defending Super Six-Four's crew	Medal of Honor, Purple Heart[71]
SSG Daniel Darrell Busch	Sniper on crashed UH-60 Helicopter Super Six-One, mortally wounded defending the downed crew	Silver Star, Purple Heart
SFC Earl Robert Fillmore, Jr.	Killed moving to the first crash site	Silver Star, Purple Heart
MSG Timothy Lynn Martin	Mortally wounded by an RPG on the Lost Convoy, died while en route to a field hospital in Germany	Silver Star, Purple Heart[136]
SFC Matthew Loren Rierson	Killed by stray mortar shell that landed near him 6 October, two days after the initial raid	Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart[137]
Soldiers of the 3rd Ranger Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment
CPL James "Jamie" E. Smith	Killed around crash site one	Bronze Star Medal with Valor Device and Oak leaf cluster,Purple Heart[139]
SPC James M. Cavaco	Killed on the Lost Convoy	Bronze Star with Valor Device, Purple Heart
SGT James Casey Joyce	Killed on the Lost Convoy	Bronze Star with Valor Device, Purple Heart
CPL Richard "Alphabet" W. Kowalewski, Jr.	Killed on the Lost Convoy by an RPG	Bronze Star with Valor Device, Purple Heart
SGT Dominick M. Pilla	Killed on Struecker's convoy	Bronze Star with Valor Device, Purple Heart
SGT Lorenzo M. Ruiz	Mortally wounded on the Lost Convoy, died en route to a field hospital in Germany	Bronze Star with Valor Device, Purple Heart
Pilots and Crew of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment
SSG William "Wild Bill" David Cleveland, Jr.	Crew chief on Super Six-Four, killed	Silver Star,Bronze Star,Air Medal with Valor Device, Purple Heart
SSG Thomas "Tommie" J. Field	Crew chief on Super Six-Four, killed	Silver Star,Bronze Star,Air Medal with Valor Device, Purple Heart
CW4 Raymond "Ironman" Alex Frank	Super Six-Four's copilot, killed	Silver Star,Air Medal with Valor Device, Purple Heart
CW3 Clifton "Elvis" P. Wolcott	Super Six-One's pilot, died in crash	Distinguished Flying Cross,Bronze Star,Air Medal with Valor Device, Purple Heart
CW3 Donovan "Bull" Lee Briley	Super Six-One's copilot, died in crash	Distinguished Flying Cross,Bronze Star,Air Medal with Valor Device, Purple Heart
Soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division
SGT Cornell Lemont Houston, Sr.1st Platoon, C Company, 41st Engr BN	Member of the "Lost Platoon". Wounded by shrapnel from an RPG whilst recovering a severely wounded Malaysian soldier on the rescue convoy.[145] Also shot in the leg and chest.[146] Died of wounds at Landstuhl Army Regional Medical Center.[147]	Bronze Star with Valor Device,de Fleury Medal, Purple Heart
PFC James Henry Martin, Jr.	Member of 2nd Squad, 2nd Platoon, Company A.[149] Killed on the rescue convoy by a bullet to the head.[146]	Purple Heart

Pakistan

One Pakistani soldier was killed and 10 disappeared during the rescue attempt and assault. Tanks of 7 Lancer Regiment and 19th Lancers were used for the rescue. Italian General Loi said Italian troops had picked up 30 of the wounded Pakistani soldiers. The city's two main hospitals reported that 23 Somalis had been killed and that more than 100 had been wounded.^{[151][failed verification]}

Malaysia

Lance Corporal Mat Aznan Awang was a 33-year-old soldier of the 19th Battalion, Royal Malay Regiment of the Malaysian Army (posthumously promoted to Corporal). Driving a Malaysian Condor armoured personnel carrier, he was killed when his vehicle was hit by an RPG in the early hours of 4 October.^[71] Corporal Mat Aznan Awang was awarded the Seri Pahlawan Gagah Perkasa medal (Gallant Warrior/Warrior of Extreme Valor).^[76]

Alleged links with Al-Qaeda

Members of Al-Qaeda are alleged to have been involved in the training and funding of Somali National Alliance forces,^[152] claims which have been widely disputed.^{[153][154][155]} There is no evidence that al-Qaeda was involved in training SNA forces or that the group participated in any of the battle between Somali and US/UN forces.^[156][154] The Somali National Alliance received some expert guidance in shooting down helicopters from fundamentalist Islamic soldiers, who had experience fighting Russian helicopters during the SovietAfghan War. Dozens of Somalis trained by the Afghan Mujahideen while participating abroad in the Soviet-Afghan War had returned to join the war against the Americans and UNOSOM II in Mogadishu. The maximum extent of possible support from Al-Qaeda is generally believed to have been restricted to supplying weapons and training to Somali groups fighting international forces during 1993.^[158] Al-Qaeda defector Jamal al-Fadl claimed that the group had trained the fighters responsible for shooting down the US helicopters, and Mohammed Odeh reportedly stated that he had gone to Somalia to train fighters and provide money.^[152] Mark Bowden contended that before the battle, the Al-Qaeda coached the Somali militia in using rocket-propelled grenades, specifically aiming for the tail rotors of US Black Hawks.^[152] Correspondent Jonathan Randal notes no evidence exists to back these asserations, and that downing helicopters by aiming for their rotors had been a well known combat technique since the Vietnam War.^[156] American Ambassador Robert B. Oakley, who had access to US and UN intelligence in Somalia, insisted that he had investigated all evidence of Al-Qaeda involvement and found nothing to support the allegations.^[153]

In 1996 and 1997, Osama Bin Laden claimed in interviews with al-Quds al-Arabi and CNN that "Arab holy warriors" played a role in the battles against US troops. However, these assertions were discredited by eyewitnesses in Mogadishu^[160] and dismissed by numerous observers as groundless and self-aggrandizing claims.^[156] While Bin Laden hinted at involvement, he never explicitly claimed that Al-Qaeda had participated in the Battle of Mogadishu.^[161] Deputy to Osama Bin Laden, Mohammed Atef, visited Somalia during 1992 and 1993,^[160] but Aidid's men had forced him to flee for his life from Mogadishu on a Cessna plane.^[156] During a 1998 interview with ABC's John Miller, bin Laden clarified his earlier statement, claiming that some of his men were present in Somalia at the time, rather than having actively participated in the fighting.^[162] Ahmed Godane, the leader of the al-Qaeda allegiant militant group Al-Shabaab, claimed that three members of the group were in Mogadishu during the battle. This has also been dismissed by observers as a self-serving proclamation.^[154] Former FBI agent Ali Soufan claims an Al-Qaeda operative named Zachariah al-Tunisi downed a Black Hawk.^[163] A November 1998 indictment named al-Qaeda members Muhammed Atef, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Mohammed Odeh, Ahmed Mohammed Hamed Ali, and military chief Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri for providing "military assistance and training to Somali tribes opposed to the United Nations' intervention in Somalia."^[164] A document recovered from al-Qaeda operative Wadih el-Hage's computer "made a tentative link between al-Qaeda and the killing of American servicemen in Somalia," and were used to indict bin Laden in June 1998, though the specific charges on Somalia were later dropped.

Claims of Al-Qaeda presence during the battle have been firmly disputed by both independent and Aidid affiliated Somali accounts. Veteran Somali journalist Abdishakur Mire Aadan notes that Islamist participants, including any that had possible connections to Al-Qaeda, were all Somali. Aadan asserts that claims by western accounts of foreign participation on the Somali side during the battle are completely baseless. Several fighters of the Somali islamist group, Al-Itihaad Al-Islaamyia directly participated in the battle,^[89] and allegations of Al-Qaeda links during the conflict with US/UN forces during 1993 were largely linked to the group.^[166] Alex de Waal, Lawrence Wright, Jonathan Randal and other journalists/academics have noted that despite assertions by some parties of an Al-Qaeda presence during the battle, no evidence exists to support these claims.^{[158][160][156]} Correspondent Scott Peterson, after extensive interviews with SNA personnel and other Somalis involved in the conflict with UNOSOM wrote, "Somalis laugh at this claim that bin Laden helped them and sayunanimouslythat they never even heard of bin Laden until he began boasting about Somalia years later."^[155]

Military fallout

In a national security policy review session held in the White House on 6 October 1993, U.S. President Bill Clinton directed the Acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral David E. Jeremiah, to stop all actions by U.S. forces against Aidid except those required in self-defense. He reappointed Ambassador Robert B. Oakley as special envoy to Somalia in an attempt to broker a peace settlement and then announced that all U.S. forces would withdraw from Somalia no later than 31 March 1994. On 15 December 1993, U.S. Secretary of Defense Les Aspin stepped down, taking much of the blame for his decision to refuse requests for tanks and armored vehicles in support of the mission.^[167][168] Garrison would write, however, that Aspin was not to blame for the events in Mogadishu. It's also since been noted that the equipment may not have arrived in time to make a difference.^[169] A few hundred U.S. Marines remained offshore to assist with any noncombatant evacuation mission that might occur regarding the 1,000-plus U.S. civilians and military advisers remaining as part of the U.S. liaison mission. The Ready Battalion of the 24th Infantry Division, 164 Armor, composed 1,300 troops of Task Force Rogue, including the bulk of 1-64 Armor and Infantry troops from her sister battalion 3-15 Infantry. This was the first time M1 Abrams tanks were delivered by air, using the C-5 Galaxies, which delivered 18 M1 tanks and 44 Bradley infantry vehicles,^[170] while the balance of Task Force Rogues equipment and vehicles were delivered via a roll-on/roll-off ship sent from Fort Stewart (Hinesville), Georgia, to Mogadishu to provide armored support for U.S. forces.^{[citation needed]}

On 4 February 1994, the U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 897, which set a process for completing the UNOSOM II mission by March 1995, with the withdrawal of U.N. troops from Somalia at that time. In August 1994, the U.N. requested that the U.S. lead a coalition to aid in the final withdrawal of the UNOSOM II forces from Somalia. On 16 December 1994, Operation United Shield was approved by President Clinton and launched on 14 January 1995. On 7 February 1995, the Operation United Shield multi-national fleet arrived and began the withdrawal of UNOSOM II's forces. On 6 March 1995, all of the remaining U.N. troops were withdrawn, ending UNOSOM II.^[171]

Policy changes and political implications

The United Nation's three consecutive humanitarian missions in Somalia (UNOSOM I 1992, UNITAF 19921993, UNISOM II 19931995) were seen by many as a failure, and the evolving civil war that began in 1986 continues as of 2023.^[172][173] 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; the perceived failure to recognize the threat al-Qaeda elements posed in the region; and the threat against U.S. security interests at home.^[174] Critics claim that Osama bin Laden and other members of al-Qaeda 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 U.S. soldier".^[175]

The loss of U.S. military personnel during the Battle of Mogadishu and television images of American soldiers being dragged through the streets by Somalis evoked public outcry. The Clinton administration responded by scaling down U.S. humanitarian efforts in the region.^[175][176]

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 he had resisted calls from conservative Republicans for an immediate departure: "...[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."^[177] 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 the battle. In the same interview, he stated that, at the time, there was "not a living soul in the world who thought that Osama bin Laden had anything to do with Black Hawk down or was paying any attention to it or even knew al-Qaeda was a growing concern in October of '93", and that the mission was strictly humanitarian.^[177]

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 decision to not intervene in later conflicts such as the Rwandan genocide of 1994. According to the U.S.'s former deputy special envoy to Somalia, Walter Clarke: "The ghosts of Somalia continue to haunt U.S. policy. Our lack of response in Rwanda was a fear of getting involved in something like a Somalia all over again."^[178] Likewise, during the Iraq War when four American contractors were killed in the city of Fallujah, then dragged through the streets and desecrated by an angry mob, direct comparisons by the American media to the Battle of Mogadishu led to the First Battle of Fallujah.^[179]

Fears of committing large numbers of US troops to Somalia in the years following the battle in part led to the CIA using Somali warlords as proxies against the Islamic Courts Union in 2006.^[180]

Published accounts

In 1999, writer Mark Bowden published the book Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War, which chronicles the events that surrounded the battle. The book was based on his series of columns for The Philadelphia Inquirer about the battle and the men who fought.^[181]

Falcon Brigade: Combat and Command in Somalia and Haiti, by Lawrence E. Casper. Casper was the 10th Mountain Division's Falcon Brigade and QRF Commander during the TF Ranger rescue effort.^[182]

Black Hawk pilot Michael Durant told his story of being shot down and captured by a mob of Somalis in his 2003 book In the Company of Heroes.^[183]

In 2011, Staff Sergeant Keni Thomas, a U.S. Army Ranger recounted the combat experience in a memoir titled Get It On!: What It Means to Lead the Way.^[184]

Howard E. Wasdin's SEAL Team Six (2011) includes a section about his time in Mogadishu including the Pasha CIA safe house and multiple operations including the Battle of Mogadishu where he was severely wounded.^[185]

Lieutenant Colonel Michael Whetstone, Company Commander of Charlie Company 214 Infantry, published his memoirs of the heroic rescue operation of Task Force Ranger in his book Madness in Mogadishu (2013).^[186]

Paul R. Howe (Delta Force) was the leader of the assault team that went in to rescue Army Rangers and Delta Force members.^[187] Howe was first to arrive on the scene of the downed Black Hawk. He later consulted for Mark Bowden's 1999 book Black Hawk Down: A History of Modern War.^[188]

Film

Bowden's book has been adapted into the film Black Hawk Down (2001), produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Ridley Scott. Like the book, the film describes events surrounding the operation, but there are differences between the book and the film, such as Rangers marking targets at night by throwing strobe lights at them, when in reality the Rangers marked their own positions and close air support targeted everything else.^[189]

2023 Malaysian film MALBATT: Misi Bakara, directed and produced by Adrian Teh, retells the story of Malaysian contingent of UNOSOM II (also known as MALBATT) involvement during the rescue operation in the battle. The film itself become the first ever Malaysian film that formatted for IMAX.^[190][191]

Video Game

The 2003 Novalogic video game Delta Force: Black Hawk Down depicts a fictionalized version of the Somali Civil War, Battle of Mogadishu and the Mogadishu Mile event. Missions take place in Mogadishu and Jubba valley inspired by the Black Hawk Down movie.

Documentaries

The American series PBS Frontline aired a documentary titled Ambush in Mogadishu in 1998.^[192][193]

The True Story of Black Hawk Down (2003) is a TV documentary which premired on The History Channel. It was directed by David Keane.^[194]

The American Heroes Channel television series, Black Ops, aired an episode titled "The Real Black Hawk Down" in June 2014.^[195]

The National Geographic Channel television series, No Man Left Behind, aired an episode titled "The Real Black Hawk Down" on 28 June 2016.^[196]

The Seconds from Disaster television series spotlighted the raid-and-rescue mission in the season 7 episode "Chopper Down", which aired in February 2018.^[197]

Rangers return in 2013

In March 2013, two survivors from Task Force Ranger returned to Mogadishu with a film crew to shoot a short film, Return to Mogadishu: Remembering Black Hawk Down, which debuted in October 2013 on the 20th anniversary of the battle. Author Jeff Struecker and country singer-songwriter Keni Thomas relived the battle as they drove through the Bakaara Market in armored vehicles and visited the Wolcott crash site.^[198]

Super 61 returns to the US

In August 2013, remains of Super 61, consisting of the mostly intact main rotor and parts of the nose section, were extracted from the crash site and returned to the United States through the efforts of David Snelson and Alisha Ryu. They are on display at the Airborne & Special Operations Museum at Fort Liberty, Fayetteville, North Carolina.^[199] The exhibit features immersive dioramas and artifacts from the battle including the wreckage of Super 61, the first Black Hawk helicopter shot down during the battle, and Super 64.^[200]

As of October 2018, a fully restored Super 68 is on display at the Army Aviation Museum in Fort Rucker, Alabama.^[201]

Notes

1. ^ Neville, Leigh (2018). Day of the Rangers. Osprey Publishing. p.219. ISBN9781472824257.
2. ^ Neville, Leigh (2018). Day of the Rangers. Osprey Publishing. p.219. ISBN9781472824257.
3. ^ Biddle, Stephen (2021). Nonstate Warfare: The Military Methods of Guerillas, Warlords, and Militias. Princeton University Press. ISBN978-0691216652.
4. ^ ^{a b c} Johnson, David Eugene (1997). Modern U.S. civil-military relations: wielding the terrible swift sword. DIANE Publishing. p.93. ISBN978-1-4289-8140-9.
5. ^ Somalia 1991-1993: Civil War, Famine Alert and a UN "Military-Humanitarian" Intervention (PDF). Mdecins Sans Frontires. 2013. p.210.
6. ^ "Anatomy of a Disaster". Time. 18 October 1993. Archived from the original on 18 January 2008. Retrieved 19 January 2008. The International Committee of the Red Cross estimated 200 Somalis had died in the battle, and hundreds of wounded piled into hospitals
7. ^ "Interviews Captain Haad | Ambush in Mogadishu | 'Frontline'". PBS. 3 October 1993. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
8. ^ Ohanwe, Augustine C. (31 July 2009). Post-Cold War Conflicts in Africa. Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd. p.174. ISBN978-1-912234-74-5. Aidid claimed 315 Somalis were killed and 812 wounded, figures that the Red Cross accepted as 'plausible'.
9. ^ Bowden, Mark (16 November 1997). "Black Hawk Down: A defining battle". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on 1 July 2007. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
10. ^ ^{a b c} Dougherty, Martin, J. (2012) 100 Battles: Decisive Battles that Shaped the World, Parragon, ISBN1445467631, p. 247
11. ^ Cockburn, Alexander (13 July 1993). "Somalia Slips From Hope to Quagmire: In Monday's attack the peacekeepers looked more like warlords". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
12. ^ Richburg, Keith B. (6 December 1993). "In War on Aideed, U.N. Battled Itself". The Washington Post. ISSN0190-8286. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
13. ^ ^{a b} Kaempf, Sebastian (2018). Saving soldiers or civilians?: casualty aversion versus civilian protection in asymmetric conflicts. Cambridge. ISBN978-1-108-65506-4. OCLC1032810239.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
14. ^ ^{a b} Hirsch, John L. (1995). Somalia and Operation Restore Hope: reflections on peacemaking and peacekeeping. Robert B. Oakley. Washington, D.C. ISBN1-878379-41-0. OCLC32200261.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
15. ^ Cassidy, Robert M., Ph.D. (2004). Peacekeeping in the abyss: British and American peacekeeping doctrine and practice after the Cold War. Westport, Conn.: Praeger. ISBN0-313-04752-9. OCLC62329891.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
16. ^ David, Saul (2012). Military blunders: the how and why of military failure. Little, Brown Book. ISBN978-1-4596-7276-5. OCLC1194939670.
17. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} Biddle, Stephen D. (2021). Nonstate warfare: the military methods of guerillas, warlords, and militias. Council on Foreign Relations. Princeton. pp.182224. ISBN978-0-691-21665-2. OCLC1224042096.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
18. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m} Peterson, S. (2000). Me against my brother: at war in Somalia, Sudan, and Rwanda: a journalist reports from the battlefields of Africa. New York: Routledge. pp.3166. ISBN0415921988. OCLC43287853.
19. ^ Dos Santos, Sgt. Maj Clayton; Perdue, James (14 February 2022). "Battle of Mogadishu: The Mission Command Perspective". Army University Press. Archived from the original on 14 February 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
20. ^ UN casualty numbers differ across multiple sources. The following is a brief list for comparison with the UN report taking precedence: * United Nations. (1994, February 24). Report of the Commission of Inquiry Established Pursuant To Security Council Resolution 885 (1993) To Investigate Armed Attacks On UNOSOM II Personnel Which Led To Casualties Among Them. Report on p. 32 lists 1 Malaysian killed with 9 Malaysians and 3 Pakistanis wounded.* United States Forces, Somalia After Action Report and Historical Overview: The United States Army in Somalia, 19921994 (2003). Page 13, the executive summary, lists 2 Malaysians killed with 7 Malaysians and 2 Pakistanis wounded. Page 106, Volume 1 of the After Action Report, lists 1 Malaysian killed with 9 Malaysians and 3 Pakistanis wounded.* Marion, F. L. (2018). The Battle of Mogadishu: Special Tactics in Somalia, 1993. In Brothers in Berets: The Evolution of Air Force Special Tactics, 19532003 (p. 291). Air University Press. Lists 2 Malaysians killed with 7 Malaysians and 2 Pakistanis wounded.* Battle of Mogadishu, Untold Story of Black Hawk Down. (2022, October 29). My Military Times. (Ad hijacking occurring on source's page, google cache used for text-only). Lists 1 Malaysian killed and 9 Malaysian wounded.* Jamil, A. (2020). US Rangers Rescue Operation Mogadishu 3rd October 1993. Bugle and Trumpet, p. 16. Lists 1 Pakistani killed and 1 wounded.
21. ^ Dauber, 2001.
22. ^ Patman, Robert G (23 December 2014). "The roots of strategic failure: The Somalia Syndrome and Al Qaeda's path to 9/11". International Politics. 52 (1): 89109. doi:10.1057/ip.2014.39. ISSN1384-5748. S2CID146924848.
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33. ^ ^{a b} Hirsch, John L. (1995). Somalia and Operation Restore Hope: reflections on peacemaking and peacekeeping. Robert B. Oakley. Washington, D.C. pp.115121. ISBN1-878379-41-0. OCLC32200261.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
34. ^ Secretary-General, Un (1 June 1994). "UN Commission of Inquiry Established under Security Council Resolution 885 to Investigate Armed Attacks on UNOSOM II (1994)". United Nations: 22.
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36. ^ Security Council, Resolution 837, United Nations Doc. Nr. S/RES/837 (1993)
37. ^ Brune, Lester H. (1999) The United States and Post-Cold War Interventions: Bush and Clinton in Somalia, Haiti and Bosnia, 19921998, Regina Books, ISBN0941690903, p. 28
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39. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Megas, Natalia (6 January 2019). "Did the U.S. Cover Up a Civilian Massacre Before Black Hawk Down?". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
40. ^ ^{a b} Laurence, Binet (2013). Somalia 19911993: Civil War, Famine Alert and a UN "MilitaryHumanitarian" Intervention. Mdecins Sans Frontires.
41. ^ ^{a b c} Bowden, Mark, Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War, Signet, 2001 - p.350
42. ^ ^{a b c d e} Richburg, Keith B. (16 July 1993). "U.N. Helicopter Assailt in Somalia Targeted Aideed's Top Commanders". The Washington Post. ISSN0190-8286. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
43. ^ Richburg, Keith (5 August 1993). "U.N. Report Criticizes Military Tactics of Somalia Peace Keepers". The Washington Post.
44. ^ Meredith, Martin (2011). The fate of Africa: a history of the continent since independence. New York: PublicAffairs. p.482. ISBN978-1-61039-132-0. OCLC811490796.
45. ^ Simons, Geoff (1995). UN Malaise: Power, Problems and Realpolitik. London. pp.9293. ISBN978-1-349-24297-9. OCLC1004381854.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
46. ^ ^{a b} "A little-known massacre explains Somalian hatred". Baltimore Sun. 15 October 1993. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
47. ^ ^{a b} Richburg, Keith B. (10 September 1993). "U.S. Helicopters Fire on Somalis". The Washington Post. ISSN0190-8286. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
48. ^ "Hoover Institution Policy Review African Atrocities and the 'Rest of the World'". 6 December 2008. Archived from the original on 6 December 2008. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
49. ^ ^{a b} Richburg, Keith B. (6 December 1993). "In War on Aideed, U.N. Battled Itself". The Washington Post. ISSN0190-8286. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
50. ^ Bowden, Mark (1 June 2000). "African Atrocities and the Rest of the World". Policy Review No. 101. Hoover Institute. Archived from the original on 6 December 2008. Retrieved 5 October 2008.
51. ^ Wheeler, Nicholas J. (2000). Saving strangers: humanitarian intervention in international society. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN0-19-829621-5. OCLC43885035.
52. ^ Richburg, Keith B. (9 August 1993). "4 U.S. Soldiers Killed in Somalia". The Washington Post. ISSN0190-8286. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
53. ^ "4 U.S. Soldiers Killed in Somalia: Africa: Clinton pledges 'appropriate action.' Men die when vehicle hits land mine in area dominated by supporters of warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid". Los Angeles Times. 9 August 1993. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
54. ^ Brune, Lester H. (1999) The United States and Post-Cold War Interventions: Bush and Clinton in Somalia, Haiti and Bosnia, 19921998, Regina Books, ISBN0941690903, p. 31
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56. ^ Gal Perl Finkel, A New Strategy Against ISIS, The Jerusalem Post, 7 March 2017.
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References

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External links