Black Hawk Down

In an interview in Le Monde Ethiopia's prime minister has said a whole bunch of international terrorists had been killed, injured or captured in the fighting recently - including 'Britons'. I use the term loosely because frankly i dont see them as such - real Britons dont go around killing for islamic shari'a. Meanwhile, Somalia's deputy prime minister claimed that much of the funding for the Islamist militants was coming from Britain and that some of their fighters were British and American passport holders. How depressing.

I was pleased to see America get its men in the bombing today. The media went into typical overdrive about civilian casualties as if only American action in removing these guys had ensured any innocent blood spilled in this country.

Of course this is the first American action since American troops got caught in vicious street to street fighting in Mogadishu as part of the U.S. military's 1993 campaign to capture Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. The raid itself by the Delta operators was successful but unprepared for an RPG onslaught 2 of their Black Hawk helicopters were brought down and the personnel killed (and paraded) - one survived and was taken hostage. A quick in and out mission turned into lengthy pitched battles into the night as they tried to secure the crash sites and recover bodies.

I was privileged to meet some of those involved in that fateful mission, something i wont forget in a hurry.

One of the best portrayals of those events is in the brilliant film Black Hawk Down. A stark, powerful and accurate interpretation of events. The book by Mark Bowden is a great read too.