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Blackhawk Down 31 Yrs Ago - a case study

lizard

lizard

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Yet another example of the US being somewhere we shouldn’t have been, trying help people who don’t want us there, and needlessly losing American lives in the process.
Is Somalia any better now than it was when this happened?
 
That story broke my heart.
 
greenmonster said:
Yet another example of the US being somewhere we shouldn’t have been, trying help people who don’t want us there, and needlessly losing American lives in the process.
Is Somalia any better now than it was when this happened?
Click to expand...
Lots of people were being murdered and it had been going on for years. Don't forget that sloth includes apathy, having the ability to help and consciously choosing not to. Also, people say we shouldn't help Ukraine because what-about-the-X-in-Africa, but you help in Africa and people say what-about-my-couch-this-football-doesn't-just-watch-itself. Pretty cold and dead inside kind of stuff.
 
As the #1 world super power, we are the world's police. When we get involved, it's to protect human rights or to protect somebodies economic stability. Follow the money.
 
dravnx said:
As the #1 world super power, we are the world's police. When we get involved, it's to protect human rights or to protect somebodies economic stability. Follow the money.
Click to expand...

So, this wasn't World Policing, it was part of a UN driven international aid program to deliver food as famine relief.
 
So...with great power comes great responsibility?
 
There are parts of the world that are shitholes and always will be despite our naive attempts to “help”.
I feel sorry for the people that live in places like Somalia but what can the US ( or any Western country) really do to effect permanent beneficial change?
How much are we willing to spend in money and lives to better a country most of us would have trouble finding on a map?
 
This has never really been a country of defeatism, so we keep trying anyway. And bless the people risking their lives to do it.

Luckily, our geographic competence isn't a qualifier for anything, else we'd be living in huts and throwing rocks at each other like they do in shithole countries.
 
My geographical comment was to point out that Somalia is a tiny country on the other side of the planet whose condition, and very existence, is meaningless to me.

I’m sick and tired of our government going into a 3rd world country and trying to foment a regime change just to have it blow up in our faces time and again. Think of all the countries in South and Central America where we tried this, in Africa, in Vietnam, in Iraq, in Afghanistan.
What do we have to show for the billions spent and the tens of thousands of American lives lost?
 
littlebeast said:
if part of the goal is to increase support for it, having a bunch of special operators end up dead is definitely not the way to go about it.
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My point is that if it weren't for the MIC, we likely wouldn't have been there in the first place.
 
greenmonster said:
My geographical comment was to point out that Somalia is a tiny country on the other side of the planet whose condition, and very existence, is meaningless to me.

I’m sick and tired of our government going into a 3rd world country and trying to foment a regime change just to have it blow up in our faces time and again. Think of all the countries in South and Central America where we tried this, in Africa, in Vietnam, in Iraq, in Afghanistan.
What do we have to show for the billions spent and the tens of thousands of American lives lost?
Click to expand...
Hey you brought up the bible in the other thread, and having the ability to help people in need and choosing apathy/nihilism in order to avoid helping others, is one of the seven deadly sins. This is a classic American characteristic, that we're the richest country in the world with insane resources and when people are starving and/or getting hacked to bits. we're a country with the courage and gear to go do something about it. It's something to be proud of, even if we blow it sometimes. There are a lot of people in the world today, and generations of their kids, and probably some barfers, that are literally alive because this country doesn't think like you do, and I'm really happy about that. The last thing the world needs right now is for all of us to retreat into our shells of self-interest.
 
Kornholio said:
My point is that if it weren't for the MIC, we likely wouldn't have been there in the first place.
Click to expand...

My Ninja. Likely. This was the same time as terror watches were picking up, etc. as well.

And then we just let Rwanda happen. Makes little sense w/out the MIC angle.
 
Prime Rib and Chianti ain't cheap!
 
Kornholio said:
My point is that if it weren't for the MIC, we likely wouldn't have been there in the first place.
Click to expand...
gotta kinda disagree with this. the UN has, as part of it’s charter, the goal to ‘maintain international peace and security’. it has no direct ability to do that with forces other than those of member states. as eldritch pointed out, the mission in somalia was a UN mission to provide humanitarian assistance to the starving population. the US forces were sent to provide security for those relief efforts. and yeah, in typical peacekeeping strategy, the mission also included a secondary mission of taking out the head of the snake (the cause of the acute crisis the population was facing in the first place).

as to whether or not it’s any of our concern - maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. personally, i’d prefer to live in a country that tries to help the downtrodden, than one that is willing to turn a cold shoulder.

WRT that particular very tragic event, if anything positive came from it, it was a complete overhaul of the future strategies and tactics of such operations. many important changes were made. fool me once… try it again, and we’ll see what’s what.
 
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