Roger,
People do whoop and cheer during Black Hawk Down. I did, too. Do you really think we’re supposed to watch the elimination of a Somali pointing an RPG at an American Black Hawk helicopter with melancholy indifference? I think Ridley Scott would be awfully disappointed if he knew he didn’t engage you on a more primitive level.
As for Somalia, here’s the thing: I AGREE with you. Nothing has ever convinced me that it wasn’t, on balance, a just humanitarian mission—although Elvis Mitchell in the Times was right to note that the United States did have larger strategic aims in the region. But the Mogadishu battle was about enough other things that it deserved to be seen in a larger context than that of an old surrounded-by-Injuns Western. Al-Qaida was there, for one thing—this is part of the indictment against Bin Laden, who has said that al-Qaida regarded the U.S. presence as Step 2 (after Desert Storm) of this country’s effort to control big chunks of the Arab world. He has even boasted that his Afghan fighters (veterans of the war with the Soviets) trained Aidid’s men and gave them all those weapons. Did you not want to know more about the thousands of Somalis laying down their lives—their motives, the propaganda that fueled their sacrifices (and atrocities)? Indeed, some commentators (including Bowden) have even suggested that the United States’ biggest mistake was to focus on Aidid instead of his more powerful allies.
Why should we care? Because in a battle as ultimately senseless and tragic as that one, it’s more important than ever to know something about the people at the other end of the gun barrel. Black Hawk Down doesn’t tell you why any of those people died—just that they did, horribly. It’s not enough.
David
