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Kiss of Death
Location: Perpetual wind and sorrow
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Yakk, although I don't have the book on me (convienently borrowed it to a friend for a book report last semester), in Yossef Bondansky's biography of Osama Bin Laden "Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America", he talked about how Osama Bin Laden and the Afghan mujahadeen had operations in Somalia in and around the Olympic Motel incident. Iraqi intelligence along with Iranian intelligence had established a network of support through Khartorum, they provided funds and logistical aid and training to Zarwahiri. Since I don't have the text on me to quote directly here is an article from Worldnetdaily(I know some here don't like the source, sorry best I can do atm) that mentions it...
Quote:
"Black Hawk Down" is a very gritty, realistic movie about the deaths of 18 servicemen in a Somalia "peacekeeping" mission.
The motion picture set a record last weekend for the highest grossing release on a Martin Luther King holiday.
It's 143 minutes of non-stop action. No wonder it's No. 1 at the box office.
But it could have been better.
How?
By telling the truth about the ambush of those U.S. Rangers. That's right, I said "ambush." The low point of the U.S. military action in Somalia came not just because of limits placed on the soldiers, not just because of lack of coordination with and the cooperation of United Nations forces nearby and not just because of the fanaticism of the forces of warlord Mohammed Farrah Aidid.
There's an incredible omission from this film that would have made it much more relevant to American audiences after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.
The glaring omission is that the killing of the American troops was a calculated, planned and deliberate action coordinated by none other than Osama bin Laden.
The American people have been led to believe that the ambush was the work of a Somali militia group – headed by Aidid.
But, according to a detailed account of the operational planning of that attack in Yossef Bodansky's "Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America," the massacre was actually the result of a well-planned, well-executed ambush by terrorist forces overseen by Osama bin Laden and supported by the governments of Sudan, Iraq and Iran.
Beginning in 1992, bin Laden orchestrated the movement of 3,000 Yemeni veterans of the Afghanistan war into Somalia. They brought with them heavy weapons and terrorist equipment – including remote-controlled bombs, booby-trapped dolls and Stinger missiles. Bin Laden paid for the mission out of his own pocket to the tune of $3 million, according to Bodansky's 1999 book and more recent reports in WorldNetDaily.
The idea was "to escalate the armed struggle against the United States," according to Bodansky.
Aidid did indeed play a role. His men were trained in Iran, Yemen, Sudan, Ethiopia and Uganda as part of the master plan.
The Mogadishu operation was so important to Iraq's Saddam Hussein that he sent his son Qusay to supervise the coming attacks on Americans.
In June a conference was held in Khartoum, Sudan, to plan a way to drag Americans in Somalia into a land war, street battles and ambushes "as was done in Vietnam."
Bin Laden did his part – arranging for the movement of trucks, fuel, food, water, weapons, ammunition and explosives into Somalia from Sudan.
On Oct. 3, 1993, U.S.-U.N. forces learned about the presence of two of Aidid's senior foreign policy advisers, Osman Salah and Muhammad Hassan Awali, at the Olympic Hotel. Quickly, a helicopter assault of 100 American troops was under way. The two were captured, as well as 22 other Aidid supporters.
But as the U.S. troops prepared to leave, they were caught in a well-organized ambush by more than 1,000 guerrillas. Two helicopters were shot down and a third crash-landed at Mogadishu's airport. The U.S. troops established a perimeter around the crash site, but found themselves surrounded and under heavy fire for 11 hours.
In that firefight, 18 American troops were killed, 78 were wounded and one helicopter pilot was captured.
The next day, the guerrillas celebrated a great victory over America – dragging the bodies of the U.S. servicemen through the streets of Mogadishu.
But it was hardly a force of rag-tag Somalian rebels that had trapped the Americans. The intelligence tip received by U.S. forces about the presence of Aidid's men was the setting of a trap by a combination of Islamicist forces directed by bin Laden and his top lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahiri. The ensuing ambush was conducted by hard-core battle-hardened Arab "Afghans" and Iraqis. The main strike force consisted of troops trained by Iran and Iraq. Aidid's forces were introduced later in large numbers to create the appearance of an enraged mob of Somalians taking revenge on U.S. forces.
"In several interviews and statements, Osama bin Laden has said that he considers his experience in Somalia a milestone in his evolution," writes Bodansky. "Somalia was the first time he was involved in a major undertaking at the leadership level, exposed to the complexities of decision making and policy formulation. He established working relations with the intelligence services of Iran and Iraq that would prove useful in his rise to the top. Although he did not actually take part in the fighting in Mogadishu, his contribution to the Islamicist effort and ultimate victory was major and decisive. Bin Laden still defines the fighting in Mogadishu as one of his major triumphs against the United States."
How could such an omission be made from a movie released after Sept. 11? Wouldn't the movie be even more meaningful and relevant if it dealt with this important subplot?
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To win a war you must serve no master but your ambition.
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