Black Hawk Down

[Xiahou]

Anyone ever catch a show called "The Final Report"? I believe it airs on the National Geographic Channel. Sometimes the topics they cover don't interest me, but I saw one on 9/11 and more on topic one on Black Hawk Down which were quite good imo. The seem to do a fair job of remaining unbiased and have lots of interviews with the commanders/soldiers/agents who were involved.

In Mogadishu, the commanders had apparently requested a handful of tanks but the request was denied by Aspen because he wanted to stick to a drawdown and didn't want to give the appearance of a military buildup. The commander they interviewed (name escapes me atm) seemed to suggest that many/most of the casualties may have been avoided with some heavy armor.

The show suggested that the incident was setup when the US military had essentially completed its initial mission of clearing the way for aid and peacekeepers and began to leave the theater. Meanwhile, the security council decided instead that the entire country should be occupied and stabilized. After Aidid's men attacked and killed a number of Pakistani peace keepers in an ambush, the US force was expected to "deal" with him- even though the same force was reducing it's presence and was a fraction of it's original size by the time.

Feel free to criticize the above as needed.

[Tribesman]

Feel free to criticize the above as needed.

only so far as to say that it was the security council that voted for and its special commissioner for Somalia that recomended the changes from Unitaf to UnisomII .

The US voted for it at the SC and the special commisioner who recommended it was a US admiral .

So this part .....The show suggested that the incident was setup when the US military had essentially completed its initial mission of clearing the way for aid and peacekeepers and began to leave the theater. Meanwhile, the security council decided instead that the entire country should be occupied and stabilized......is slightly wrong , the decision was taken in tandem on the recomendation of an American with backing from America .

[Xiahou]

So this part .....The show suggested that the incident was setup when the US military had essentially completed its initial mission of clearing the way for aid and peacekeepers and began to leave the theater. Meanwhile, the security council decided instead that the entire country should be occupied and stabilized......is slightly wrong , the decision was taken in tandem on the recomendation of an American with backing from America .

I don't disagree with that- my point was the disconnect between the new policy and the forces on the ground. The UN/administration expanded the mandate, while continuing along the path of reducing troop levels. It was asking for problems.

[Grey_Fox]

Yes, but the UN was no part of the actual battle other than rescuing the US troops. Task Force Ranger was separate to the UN peacekeepers and did not report to them.

The problem was that the US government believed a small force of commandos with some helicopters would allow a Jeffersonian-style democracy to flourish.

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

Yes, but the UN was no part of the actual battle other than rescuing the US troops. Task Force Ranger was separate to the UN peacekeepers and did not report to them.

The problem was that the US government believed a small force of commandos with some helicopters would allow a Jeffersonian-style democracy to flourish.

and it didn't work sadly.

I think they didn't realize, You can't send 100-150 Delta/Rangers in, with some Black Hawk and Little Birds and Apache support, into a town of THousands of armed people. People were armed from everything with RPG's to AK-47's to simple pistols and handguns. You needed a few hundred soldiers and some armor tanks, several copters and air support form F-16's and such to actually do something.