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Rumsfeld Burdened by Stilling Echoes of the Grisly Raid in Somalia
Wednesday, March 6, 2002
By Michael R. Gordon
The New York Times

The Pentagon avoided the use of ground forces in Kosovo, and boasted that no American troops were killed in combat in the conflict. The boast was true, but it reinforced the almost impossible standards for future wars, one that some experts feared would inhibit Washington from using force.

WASHINGTON -- NYT
At the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and his top aides were working hard today to exorcise the ghosts of Mogadishu.

A United States Navy Seal had fallen out of his helicopter earlier this week in the rugged mountains of Afghanistan and by some accounts had been dragged away to his death by a battle-hardened enemy.

Six more commandos were killed and almost a dozen wounded before the body of the American was retrieved 12 hours later.

The episode was eerily reminiscent of the disastrous raid in Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1993 that led to the death of 18 American soldiers, prompted the American withdrawal from Somalia, badly wounded the Clinton presidency and inhibited Washington from intervening in other trouble spots.

So Mr. Rumsfeld was at pains to discourage the notion that his new Afghan offensive had become "Black Hawk Down" in the snow.

"Other than very brave people this has nothing to do with Mogadishu," Mr. Rumsfeld declared.
(More: The New York Times News Source)
2002 © The New York Times.

There are a lot of people in this world who would prefer never being shot at. I count myself among this lot, and I hope it includes a majority of this planet’s population. Eventually, though, the burden of digging the disease from the land must fall to the few who can get the job done, and these people will be fired upon, they will be shot, and some, perhaps many of them, will die.

It is very possible we hit the site on foot too soon, resulting in lost lives. It is very possible we did not, with air-strikes allowing a porous perimeter that al Qui’da terrorists could slip through. Hind-sight reporting irks me, and that’s what this really is. There is no way to turn back the clock and see what would have happened “if...” This is now, and this is where we are.

Time to move ahead with the campaign.

Dan