Ilhan
Omar Slammed U.S. Soldiers Involved in 'Black Hawk Down' Incident
by John Rossomando
IPT News
April 22, 2019
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The United States Army was the villain in the "Black Hawk
Down" incident in Somalia, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., wrote in a 2017 Twitter
post.
Omar, a Somali native elected to Congress last fall, was responding to a tweet that
falsely described the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu as the worst terrorist
attack in Somali history. The original tweet noted that 19 American
soldiers were killed and 73 American soldiers were wounded.
"In his selective memory, [the writer] forgets to also mention the
thousands of Somalis killed by the American forces that day! #NotTodaySatan,"
Omar wrote while still a Minnesota
state legislator.
Omar has repeatedly generated controversy, largely for anti-Semitic
statements about Israel which employed old canards about Jewish power and
money. House leaders forced her to apologize in February after she tweeted "It's all
about the Benjamins baby," referring to American Israel Public Affairs
Committee (AIPAC) alleged spending and its purported influence on American
policy.
A few fringe
characters have reacted to the Omar controversies by making
threats against the congresswoman. Omar is an elected official,
however, and her viewpoints remain a fair point for debate despite those
hateful acts.
A few fellow Democrats have also noted her anti-Semitism. Georgia Rep.
Lucy McBath and Dan McCready, a candidate for North Carolina's 9th
Congressional District, have turned down contributions from Omar, The
Daily Caller reported last Wednesday.
She also is building a record of inaccurate statements. Most recently,
she incorrectly said that the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
was founded after 9/11, when "some people did something" and Muslim Americans
faced new civil rights threats. Many critics saw the "some people did
something" line as minimizing the magnitude of the al-Qaida attack on
America. But as a basic fact, CAIR – her host that night – was formed in 1994 as an outgrowth of a Muslim
Brotherhood-created Hamas support network in America.
Omar's attack on U.S. soldiers involved in the "Black Hawk
Down" incident appears to have gone unnoticed until now.
Her tweet saying that "thousands of Somalis [were] killed by the
American forces" exaggerated the Somali death toll and omitted
important context.
It completely missed the point of the U.S. involvement in Somalia,
retired Chief Warrant Officer Mike Durant, who was shot down in Mogadishu
on Oct. 3, 1993 and held captive by the militia loyal to Somali warlord
Gen. Mohammed Farah Aidid, told the Investigative Project on Terrorism
(IPT). The U.S. military was in Somalia as part of a humanitarian mission
to save starving Somalis and protect food and aid from being stolen by
warring factions.
Somali casualty counts vary dramatically, in part due to the nature of
the battle. But few credible estimates place the figure anywhere near the
"thousands" Omar claimed were killed.
Only 133 Somali militiamen died in the fighting with U.S. Rangers and
Delta Force soldiers, Capt. Haad, a representative of the Somali National
Alliance (SNA) said in a 2001 interview with Author Mark Bowden. He estimated 500 Somali deaths in his book Black Hawk
Down: A Story of Modern War, considered the definitive account of the
Battle of Mogadishu. Others put the Somali death toll closer to
1,000. A 2000 Rand Corporation report estimated 300 noncombatants were killed.
Higher estimates may be related to the swarm-like tactics used by thousands of Aidid's clan
members to overwhelm American forces. Women and children also attacked the U.S. troops, carrying everything from
machine guns to knives and machetes.
"Losses taken on the Somali side came as a result of their attempts
to ambush our ground convoy and flight of aircraft. Our forces, being
vastly outnumbered, fought to save their own lives. All the Somali militia
had to do was walk away, but they persisted," Durant said.
Durant's Black Hawk helicopter, code named "Super 6-4," was
shot down after a rocket-propelled grenade hit its tail rotor. Durant was
injured and ran out of ammunition fighting back as a human wave of militia approached.
Delta Force snipers Randy Shughart and Gary Gordon were killed when they
joined him trying to keep the Somali militia at bay. Each was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
The Somali mob dragged their bodies through the streets of Mogadishu.
Durant ultimately was captured and held by Aidid's militia for 11 days
before being released in a prisoner exchange.
Aidid, the mission's target, was considered a prime culprit in worsening
the suffering among Somalia's people, Durant said. When the country's
government collapsed into anarchy in 1991, more than 300,000 Somalis fell
victim to the subsequent famine.
"Relief organizations from the U.S. and our international partners
went to Somalia to try to end the widespread suffering and death from
starvation of hundreds of thousands of Somali people," Durant said.
"The mission was an overwhelming success. Without harming a single
Somali or destroying any property the military force was able to provide security,
open the supply lines and get food, medicine and assistance to the Somali
people, effectively ending their suffering. Had the story ended there,
Somalia could have gone down as one of the most successful peacekeeping
efforts in our military's history."
President George H.W. Bush began "Operation Restore Hope" in
December 1992, saying that he hoped to ease suffering and save lives.
At least a quarter of a million people had died at that point due to
famine, he said, and five times that number were in danger of dying without
immediate action.
Aid workers faced assault, armed gangs hijacked food convoys and stole
food after it was delivered, he said. Ships carrying aid were shelled.
"Only the United States has the global reach to place a large
security force on the ground in such a distant place, quickly and
efficiently, and save thousands of innocents from death," Bush said.
"As a nation, we and our political leadership should be proud of
what we did there," Durant said. "We put our most precious
resource on the line to help starving people. In return, my friends'
remains and those of my comrades were dragged through the streets. I do not
hold all Somalis accountable for the actions of a few, but I certainly take
issue with the remarks of Congresswoman Omar."
Omar's family fled
the Somali civil war, initially taking refuge in Kenya before making it
to the United States in 1995.
Durant isn't the only veteran connected with the mission in Somalia to
take offense with Omar's tweet.
Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, was a Navy
physician on the U.S.S. El Paso, which served in Operation Provide Comfort in late July 1993, almost two
months before the Battle of Mogadishu. He says he can't watch the Black
Hawk Down movie because he knew many people who served in the Somalia
operation.
Omar's 2017 comment "clarifies the narrative with which she speaks
about America," Jasser said. "Her reflexive response was that
America killed thousands. I'm especially sensitive about this because I'm a
member of the VFW because of my service.
"My ship deployed to Mogadishu, and we were there to help after a
famine."
Omar's comment promotes the Islamist narrative that the American
military is evil, and that, at best, the U.S. only looks out for itself
instead of humanitarian interests, Jasser said.
"If anyone ended up killing people it was the response of Aidid's
guys that ended up doing that," Jasser said. Omar's criticism of U.S.
soldiers is symptomatic of what he sees as her anti-Americanism.
"I'm particularly offended as an American and as a Muslim that
nobody is holding her accountable for these radical views that really view
our soldiers as the problem rather than the solution," Jasser said.
"She doesn't see terror groups as an issue. She's asked for lighter
sentencing for ISIS war criminals. She ignores Al-Shabaab recruitment from
her district – the highest in the U.S. – and fought our CVE programs there
with CAIR."
This worldview is even more concerning since Omar has been assigned to
the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which is tasked with legislation
and oversight on international relations, including "war powers,
treaties, executive agreements, and the deployment and use of United States
Armed Forces; peacekeeping, peace enforcement, and enforcement of United
Nations or other international sanctions; arms control and disarmament
issues."
Related Topics: John
Rossomando, Ilhan
Omar, Battle
of Mogadishu, Black
Hawk Down, Mohammed
Farah Aidid, social
media, Mike
Durant, Randy
Shugahart, Gary
Gordon, Operation
Restore Hope, Lucy
McBath, Dan
McCready, 9/11,
Zuhdi
Jasser
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