Twenty-five years ago, I was drawn to Somalia in the aftermath of Operation Restore Hope, a U.S. initiative supporting a United Nations resolution that aimed to halt widespread starvation. The effort, started in 1992, secured trade routes so food could get to Somalis. The U.N. estimated that no fewer than 250,000 lives were saved. But Operation Restore Hope would be best remembered in the United States for a spectacular debacle that has shaped foreign policy ever since.

Ultimately, in the epilogue, Bowden gets around to these thorny issues. Based on the quality of what comes before, I shouldn’t have been surprised that he brings a deft touch to the controversial decisions to insert Task Force Ranger in the first place, and later to pull them out. Bowden allows his subjects to have their say, which often involves them teeing off on the Clinton administration. He gives voice to Jamie Smith’s father, whose white-hot anger brings to mind that of Cindy Sheehan who, a decade after Smith’s death, would turn the loss of her son in Sadr City into a sustained antiwar movement. helicopters whipped the roofs off whole neighborhoods with the force of their rotor wash -- even, according to Bowden, tearing infants from the arms of their mothers. Under pressure to find Aidid swiftly, the Rangers, forced to rely Like other observers, Mark Bowden believes that the failed mission in Somalia has had a ''profound cautionary influence'' on American military policy. Judging from the Clinton Administration's abject responses to the genocidesWe even get a couple accounts from different Somalis involved in the fight, where they were, why they were fighting, what they were thinking, and how they fit it with Aidid's militia or just how they reacted as a normal clansmen who hated the American's brutal tactics. I certainly didn't expect to get any Somali perspective, but I'm glad that we do. Gripping read and detailed account of the 1993 horrific operation in Mogadishu that resulted in American soldiers dead and wounded. Before reading this book, the only memory or information I had about the event were the images of two American soldiers being dragged through the streets by the Somalians- courtesy of CNN.

In 1993, the world watched as cable news endlessly replayed the bodies of Americans being hauled through the streets by jubilant Somalis. Soon thereafter, the White House ended the mission. It was an act of looking away. I had an Army friend who was there in Mogadishu at the time and said that the book was good journalism whereas the film was ridiculous. From my perspective, the Captain Steele from the book was Colonel Steele, commander of the 101st Airborne Rakkasans between 2004 and 2006, while I was in Iraq. Professional tough guy, former University of Georgia bulldog under Vince Dooley. Last weekend I also watched the movie (directed by Ridley Scott) and there's a couple of disconcerting differences, the main being that the movie strips out most of the uncomfortable parts of the book. That is the very strong criticism on the leadership (although Bowden often uses the Delta Force participants to voice it) and the Somali side of the experience. And I think these two points are the most significant in the book, and they explain a lot about what went wrong. The film begins with the quote "Only the dead have seen the end of war.", which is misattributed to Plato. Research shows this quote first appeared in the works of George Santayana. [76] [77] [78] See also [ edit ]

First an apology. I've accidentally reviewed this book with two stars two years ago. Not sure why. I got confused. Anyway, I've done unjustice to a really excellent work of history and military biography, and now it is time to correct this. The account of the warfare is detailed and spools before your inner eye as vividly as any film--it reads like a novel. In his Afterward Bowden writes about how he tried to efface himself from the story, that he tried to "get out of its way." I greatly appreciated that--I think in another book I read recently, Blood Diamonds, the author was too much in the story. This story was seemless and felt authentic--what came through was the voices and humanity and courage of the soldiers. It was hard to read at times--Bowden doesn't pull any punches in graphically relating what bullets and shrapnel does to vulnerable flesh and bone. But you do feel like he gives you the most vivid account of modern warfare possible without going into combat yourself.

popular hostility that the Americans faced. Bowden spoke to Somali lawyers, engineers and former United States Embassy staff members, as well as to the gunmen known as mooryan -- the fighters who ruled (and still rule) the streets as the formidable Delta operators are called, ended up spending the night in enemy territory, and the fact that most of them survived is astonishing. Indeed, given the casualty figures, the Americans were justified in claiming a battlefield This book could make a great movie. Almost the entire picture could take place in that police interview room. There are so many amazing characters. Another example of where the film is not even close to how good the book is, this narrative is gripping and very powerful. For the most part, the scene in the film where the convoy leaves the soldiers running through the city streets alone does not accurately portray what really happened:I did make a deal with Michael. He has made his own deal with FX. He is well along preparing to shoot this as an eight- to nine-hour-long miniseries on location. He was unable to get permission to shoot in Vietnam but, as of right now, he's building sets in [the Philippines] and Thailand. He was still waiting for a greenlight from FX, but it's a very expensive project, so it's not surprising that they're being careful about it. General Pervez Musharraf, who later became President of Pakistan after a coup, similarly accused the filmmakers of not crediting the work done by the Pakistani soldiers. In his autobiography In the Line of Fire: A Memoir, Musharraf wrote: Lang, Brent (September 1, 2011). " 'Inside the Revolution Library: Where Joe Roth Went Wrong". TheWrap.com. Archived from the original on December 7, 2015 . Retrieved June 28, 2017. Reading this book felt like I was in the heat of battle. I could visualize each scene with alarming clarity. The author did an outstanding job with this book.