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Black Hawk Down

January 27, 2001

by Brian W. Peterson

The movie that leaves no man behind delivers to its audience a powerful depiction of battlefield chaos and bravery. Ironically, Black Hawk Down also delivers an incomplete story that leaves the viewer with unanswered questions about what really happened in those 24 terrible hours.

According to interviews given by the film’s producer, Jerry Bruckheimer, the film is not supposed to be about politics, rather the bravery of the soldiers in the middle of the action.

Though politics remains far from the film’s script during the 145 minutes on the big screen, Black Hawk Down’s sometimes excruciating battle scenes fail to remove politics from the minds of the audience. The film tries so hard to leave out politics that it inadvertently leaves the viewer wondering: Why was air support refused? Why did our fighting elite have to rely upon the United Nations for tanks and to rescue our men? Who ultimately was in charge of approving the details of the planned raid?

Unfortunately for most ill-informed Americans, they entered and exited the theater without even hints to the answers.

The film avoids indicting the foolishness of the Clinton Administration and the military brass in such a way that it unintentionally sends the message that the Clinton Administration and military brass were foolish at best, scandalous at worst.

Les Aspin, the Secretary of Defense at the time, is never mentioned. He later resigned because of the debacle and, in the words of a friend, former Congressman Lee Hamilton, Aspin’s death was likely partially due to the stress that he endured after the bungled raid. It must be noted, however, that Aspin’s heart problems predated the disastrous events of Somalia, and that he died nineteen months after the affair.

Black Hawk Down is about the brave American fighting machine that is flesh and bone, blood and guts, body and soul. But Black Hawk Down, by omission, is also about foolish rules of engagement, spineless military leadership, and clueless civilian leadership. That we did not fill a hundred coffins is nothing short of miraculous.

For the record, President George H. W. Bush got us into Somalia by misusing our forces and President Bill Clinton exacerbated a losing proposition by ensuring that some of our men - eighteen Americans, to be exact - came home in body bags.

The insanity that was - and is - Somalia brought about massive starvation. Warlords ruled their own little fiefdoms with ferocity and maintained power by using food, or lack thereof, as a weapon. America, forever the nation of compassion, sent in the military to assist in feeding the locals - mistake number one.

President Clinton, in his first year as president, changed the Somali mission to that of “nation building,” a nebulous and utopian vision for the expansion of America’s goodwill - mistake number two.

The local warlord who was judged to be the biggest threat to Somalian stability was Mohammad Farrah Aidid. Aidid was essentially a thug with a motley band of gun-toting street fighters who took on the world and won the ouster of America’s military might.

Because of the disastrous events in October of 1993, the Clinton Administration reevaluated the “nation building” mission and withdrew, sending the world the message that, yet again, when pressured America turns high tail and runs. In the years that followed, others nations and groups would receive that message loud and clear.

The movie depicts the unabashed and unbending commitment that our soldiers possess. Those of lesser training would have not survived the deadly streets of Mogadishu, let alone the perplexing miscalculations of the limited tactics employed in the course of the mission. Most of us would have said, “No way.”

But our soldiers never consider such a response - to question and advise civilian leadership is the job of the military brass. Ever clear in Black Hawk Down is the fact that the upper echelons of the military were just as culpable as the civilian leadership in Washington - but once again, this is an indictment by omission.

Every wannabe president, every would-be leader, every cocky know-it-all who goes to Washington with a vision of changing the rest of the world should be required to see this film. The current administration - to understand what to avoid - and the two previous administrations - to see what their policies wrought - should also see this movie.

Black Hawk Down is a superb spectacle that conveys the fear, pain, and ugliness of combat. The film is simultaneously a terrific yet terrible rendition of what every military and civilian leader should know before committing American forces abroad. It should also stand as a symbol of the bravery and commitment of our armed forces.

_________________________________________

Brian W. Peterson writes a political column for the Antelope Valley Press (circulation approximately 60,000) in Palmdale, California. He is a graduate of Oral Roberts University, where he majored in TV/Film. Brian’s weekly commentary and newspaper columns can be found at www.LifeAndLiberty.com.

Send the author an E mail at Peterson@ConservativeTruth.org.

For more of Brian's articles, visit his archives.

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