Black Hawk Down: The Sequel? After the Black Hawk Down disaster in Somalia in 1993, which left 18 US troops dead, the United States remained relatively quiet in the region. However, over the last couple of years, the United States has become far more active in an effort to combat Shabab, a militant group that has pledged allegiance to al-Quada. According to the article, the group has attacked policed headquarters, restaurants, military bases used by African Union troops, and in 2013 attacked the Westgate mall killing 60 and wounding 175. In order to combat the Shabab, the US government has turned to Special Operations troops and private contractors to train Somalian and other African troops to conduct raids and fights back against the Shabab. Reentering the region does not come without its share of drawbacks, the United States has used air strikes which have killed civilians. This has created a riff among the US and Somalian government. …show more content…
One pro, for instance, is the increased power of having US troops training and working alongside Somalian forces. On their own the Somalian forces, would have a tough time with certain military tactics such as drone strikes, which have killed approximately 200 Shabab militants, and monthly raids that lead to the capture and interrogation of those militants. A major con is trust. In this particular scenario, drone strikes have killed 25 civilians. The Somalian is skeptical because they believe that the US is being given the wrong information and therefore rival clans are getting the best of our forces. Without the trust of the Somalian government, accomplishing the task of eradicating the Shabab becomes much more difficult and could lead to unintended
There had been Pros and Cons since President George W. Bush officially declared the "Global war on Terror"(GWOT) on September 20, 2011.
Over 500,000 troops were in the Gulf at the beginning of Desert Storm.(Persian Gulf War Britannica) In 1990 USA made their way into Kuwait to defend them from Iraq.(Persian Gulf War Britannica) The Iraqis were very poor from the war they had just suffered and they needed money. (Persian Gulf War Britannica) So they decide to invade Kuwait for their oil supply so the Iraqis could sell oil to make money. (Persian Gulf War Britannica) What they didn’t know was the U.S. were buying the oil from Kuwait and the U.S. wanted Kuwait to have oil. (Persian Gulf War Britannica) So the U.S. defended Kuwait and attacked the Iraqis. (Persian Gulf War Britannica) They did this by sending over 100,000 troops
The Vietnam War was the most publicized war during its era; moreover this was the most unpopular war to hit the United States. All over the country riots began to raise, anti-war movement spread all over the states begging to stop the war and chaos overseas. This truly was a failure in the political side of things. For the public, all they saw was a failed attempt in a far away country. Events such as the Tet Offensive where the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong established an all out attack on key locations around Vietnam, and although the Viet Cong was virtually wiped out, this still had a large affect psychologically on the troops as well as the populist back in the United States. Another atrocity that occurred during this war was the My Lai Massacre. This was the mass murder on unarmed civilians in South Vietnam during March 16,1968. Around November 1969, the world saw this and was outraged with the killings of innocent civilians prompting and giving the public more reasons to stop the war. Although the war was very unpopular, men and women were still fighting and dying for America. Heroes such as Captain John W, Ripley of Dong Ha, Medal of Honor recipients, and overall troops that gave the ultimate sacrifice were forgotten for a brief period. As unpopular as the war was, the American people should still know the stories and good that some of these troops had done for the United States.
Civil War is another shared similarity between both Somalia and the United States. In 1991, following the overthrow of the dictator, Siad Barre, Somalia descended into anarchy. With no government presence to maintain some type of order, clan-based warlords began competing with each other, thus beginning civil unjust. While northern parts of Somalia, as well as the self-declared “Republic of Somaliland,” have remained somewhat peaceful, internal fighting flares up with little to no warning. Since 1991, it is estimated that 350, 000 to 1,000,000 Somalia’s have died due to the lack...
attacks of terrorist cells, such as al-Qaeda. The strategic location of the base in Djibouti, Africa
At the beginning of World War II, America decided to remain neutral due to the economic loss that had accumulated during the Great Depression. When WW2 started, America wanted to help out the Allies that were involved in the war. So America introduced the Neutrality acts which were beneficial to America and the Allies. The most significant Neutrality acts were the Cash and Carry and Lend and Lease Acts. The Cash and Carry Act was issued during the year of 1939 to allow Americans to sell non-military arms and supplies to the Allies only if they paid cash and supplied own transport. This act was later modified and introduced as the Lend and Lease act in 1942, through which America would be able to transport war supplies including food, machinery,
By the time the Bay of Pigs occurred, the Cuban government developed close ties with the Soviet Union and cut its ties with the United States. It became the first Communist state in the Western Hemisphere, led by Fidel Castro. Cuba became a threat to the United States because it was close to its proximity and it was supported by its archenemy—the Soviet Union. The Eisenhower administration initiated the operation by providing support to the Cuban exiles, having the CIA provide them secret training to attack the island of Bahía de Cochinos. The Bay of Pigs Invasion was supposed to be a top secret organized plan to overthrow the Castro regime in Cuba. This, however, ended up in a fiasco in where the operation failed because the information was
As seen from Gettleman´s text, “But Awil is not a rebel. He is working for Somalia's government. The U.S. and other Western nations support the fragile Somali regime, which is battling an Islamic insurgency, as part of the counterterrorism strategy for the region.” As apparent, the United States has put a counterterrorism strategy into place, to help bring down the power that Somalia
Again, the United States entered the conflict failing to adhere to all the principals of jus ad bellum, espousing the principles of jus in bello, and inadequately upholding those of jus post bellum. The US entered the war an unjust nation, and left the conflict in a rather unjust manner. As a result, Somalia faces hardship over two decades later with no signs of a hasty recovery. Even worse, with the problem lingering and the international debt crisis, few countries are willing to intervene in Africa to cut out a solution. How long will the world let Somali people starve and whose job is it to intervene if America is unwilling?
Before the war, Somalia had a well-functioning democratic republic government. Under the 1979 Constitution, the president held executive power. The president was the head and leader of the country’s sole legal political party, The Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party. Elected to serve a 7-year term, the president was nominated by the party’s central committee. Ever since the civil war in 1991, when the government collapsed, Somalia has been in a state of civil war and anarchy (“Somalian Government”).
Slaughterhouse-Five is a novel which has been challenged for its graphic descriptions of events which occurred during the later years of World War 2. There are many other reasons which prompted communities to ban the book such as its anti-religious thoughts and sexual content. Although this book is highly graphic and can be offensive toward some religions, it should not be banned because it shows you the inside of a person who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and it also encourages readers to think differently of how life works and gives historical information about a firsthand experience of being a prisoner of war and a survivor of the bombing of Dresden. Although it is true that it uses graphic imagery and at some points ridicules
In this section, I will provide a brief history of U.S. military involvement on the African continent, starting with the Barbary Wars and working up through the current date. This historical documentation will highlight the change in the role the United States has played in Africa [post 9-11???]. Prior to 9-11, the United States’ interactions were mainly [capture summary here]. Since [?], however, the continent has faced a marked increase in violent extremism and terrorism leading the United States to partner with many African nations in counterterrorism initiatives. These, and other initiatives, mean an increasing number U.S. service members are deploying to Africa to take part in training, humanitarian issues and military operations. These military activities are run by United States African Command, a recently created combatant command.
At that time in the early 1990’s the U.S. was the only superpower country left in the world. The Soviet Union collapsed after the Cold War and the left the U.S. at the top. With the U.S. being the only superpower left, it meant that they were the only ones who could try to keep peace between other countries and hopefully end violence in the world. At the time, Somalia was a complete disaster and still is to this day. They have no structural government and warlords rule parts of the country. The one warlord at the time, Mohamed Farrah Aidid, was stealing shipments of food from the U.S. to the starving citizens in the rest of Somalia. The U.S. did not like this, so they set up a plan to capture Aidid and his men in a building near the Bakaara Market. The U.S. just got done defeating Saddam Hussein’s army in the first Gulf War. Before the war, Hussein had one of the largest armies in the world. The U.S. defeated them in a couple of weeks and gave them a massive amount of confidence going into this raid to try to capture Aidid.
The Somali were struggling and since there was no one to aid them with their struggle for a secure government, the United States and United Nations began aiding the Somali people. The U.S. and the U.N. sent out deliveries of necessities the Somali people need to live off of, but warlords attempted to cut off the deliveries for the people, which infuriated the U.N. and U.S., who began to fight back against the warlords, causing greater tension in the capital. Aideed, a warlord, shot down two Black Hawk Helicopters, leading to the death of eighteen U.S. soldiers and hundreds of Somali people. The fighting continued, leaving multitudes of deaths on both sides of the war. After years of endless fighting, the United Nations and United States tried to the best of their abilities to aid Somalia and its corrupt government, however in the end, they were unable to find a solution to assist
First of all, Black Hawk Down is a film by Ridley Scott that tells the story of an ill-fated U.S. military raid that went catastrophically wrong when optimistic plans were met with unexpected guerilla resistance. Operation Gothic Serpent took place on October 3, 1993 in Mogadishu, Somalia. The mission was supposed to be a textbook style raid in order to apprehend lieutenants loyal to General Muhammed Farrah Aideed, a powerful warlord who had appointed himself president of Somalia after overthrowing it’s current president, and murdering many high level government officials. In all, 18 Americans lost their lives, 70 more were wounded, and approximately 3,000 Somalis were killed. Days after the disastrous events of the raid, the U.N. task force orchestrated by then President Bill Clinton, pulled out all of U.S. troops from Somalia, ultimately disbanding the task force, and ending the mission in failure. The conflict was a controversial matter fueled by the media, and openly displayed how gravely underestimated U.S. intelligence reports were of General Aideed’s power. The events left a stain on President Clinton’s foreign policy, and ended up being a critical fail...