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April 09, 2003
Lessons from "Black Hawk Down"
It's been said that Saddam Hussein used the movie "Black Hawk Down" as a guide for his war strategy. His goal was to recreate Mogadishu in Bagdahd. (Of course, our friends on the left were foolishly rooting for him to succeed.)
In the end, however, Mogadishu will always be more of a commentary on the Clinton Administration than a guideline for urban warfare. If the Clinton Administration had given the green light for the use of Bradley Fighting Vehicles and AC-130 Gunships, both of which the military brass had requested, then there would never have been a Mogadishu. Instead, they sent umarmored vehicles with inadaquate air support. The Clinton Administration made a conscious decision that gunships and armored vehicles were the wrong political message for a humanitarian mission to be carrying.
Of course, a humanitarion misison should never have been tasked with abducting a warlord, either.
Posted by crandal at April 9, 2003 09:58 PM