Week 10 Reflection (10/25-10/29)

NOTE: This reflection will not include anything on the Stewart/Colbert Rally, I didn't go and everyone else and their mum is writing about it so go there if you can't live without it.

This week we tried to get back on track with the syllabus, the Risk game having gone on longer than expected and the schedule being thrown off. Anyway, the discussion in class were very interesting and raised some interesting points about security and what should be part of it and what should not be. But all that was covered in my blog post and while interesting, is not what I want to talk about today.

Last night I watched Black Hawk Down with some of my friends in the sky lounge. For those of you who don't know, the movie dramatizes the events of the Battle of Mogadishu when US forces attempted to capture Mohamed Aidid who had been inter-directing UN food shipments and intentionally starving hundreds of thousands of Somalis to death. 160 US troops entered the city and attempted to capture Aidid and his lieutenants. The operation initially was successful but soon Aidid militiamen began attacking the troops and successfully downed two Black Hawk helicopters. The ensuing battle pit 160 light US infantrymen against 3000 entrenched Somali militiamen. By the time the battle was over, 18 Americans were killed, 84 wounded and 1 captured (later released). Shortly thereafter, the main US combat presence was removed from Somalia.

I had known the general outline of the event beforehand, but seeing it dramatized put the issue in stark relief. There is, of course, a dilemma here: should we have even been there? Should we have restricted our use of firepower? Should we have left after we suffered such an inglorious defeat? This example, of course, dealt with food and a very clear issue of a despicable man starving millions -- but what about democracy? Should we spread that at the end of a sword?

Well, this certainly ties into our class discussion on Tuesday (guessing based on the readings) but I shall briefly address the matter.

It would seem to me that there isn't any sense to ask a mom in Kentucky to send her kid over to Iraq to die for a system we're strong arming onto the population. But just because we got into the war stupidly doesn't mean we have to leave stupidly. I still support the current, conditions based withdrawal that is on the table. The invasion of Iraq cost trillions of dollars, killed ~4,500 Americans and ~150,000 Iraqis. And for what? A corrupt, dysfunctional government susceptible to influence from malicious neighbors? A government that fails to provide services and basic security?

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Astrik’s son Hambartzum listened politely. He assessed what he had just heard about democracy and new freedoms, and then pronounced:

“I am free to read the newspaper I want, but what I will read is that my mother is dead.”

- http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/defining-freedom-in-baghdad/

Now, I'm not totally unreasonable -- I do think there are situations that require a solid dose of hot lead and cold steel. Situations where I do think it is reasonable to send our boys over there to bleed for someone else. Rwanda, Serbia, Sudan and even the Somalia intervention mentioned in the beginning I would support.

But even there, we have tricky questions. Do we just send in limited numbers of SOF operators? Or do we go all out? Do we restrain our troops or do we allow them to use heavy weapon systems in the pursuit of their goals? It's all conditional, but I would support the idea that we could limit our influence to a small contingent of SOF operators to minimize the cost and antibody effect from the local population (warlords or militias not originally hostile to us but being convinced that we're occupiers and fighting us). And we should always endeavor to minimize civilian casualties, but not at the cost of our own men. Were I in charge during Mogadishu, I would have made full use of aerial bombardment and A130 gunships in Aidids stronghold. These weapons should be used carefully and sparingly, but we should not hesitate to use them in full force when our troops are engaged in combat and in need of assistance.

Being the most powerful nation in the world carries with it numerous ethical problems about when and how we should use our power. I look forward to discussing these issues in the upcoming class and week. I can already tell it's going to get.... heated.