Black Hawk Down

 

Black Hawk Down – Mark Bowden

This is one of those books that most people recognize since there was a very popular movie made based on this tragic, unfortunate story.  It was a difficult read due to the depressing aspects of the situation and the immediate aftermath. Because of the subject matter, I doubt I could actually sit through the film, no matter how critically acclaimed it was.  There are certain things I cannot stomach.  Had this event not gone down horribly wrong, one has to wonder if the event would be remembered by many.  Often it’s the tragedies that make good “stories”; or even, at least, the memorable ones.

This book details the attempt of the U.S. Special Forces attempt to capture the crooked leader Mohamed Farrah Aidid of Mogadishu, Somalia in 1993.  Without dwelling too much on the background, Somalia is one of those African countries riddled with corruption and violence.  Many western countries such as the U.S. often make altruistic gestures for the poor and ravaged with donations of food and medicine (remember “USA for Africa”?) yet corrupt leaders of such countries don’t want such intrusion.  If the subjects remain in destitution and dying of hunger, they’re much easier to subjugate.   This is an account of how a “simple mission” to overthrow and evil warlord went disastrously wrong.

What most in the West fail to understand, time and time again, is that, as evil as leaders such as Aidid are, removing them won’t actually solve anything.  This is why the learned caution us before we arrogantly march off to places like Baghdad or Afghanistan.  You can’t simply topple an evil dictator and then magically transform the country into a loving democracy resembling the state of Vermont.

This book plows right into the action.  There’s very little background provided for the reader. 90% of this book takes place in about a 24-hour period.  I must confess that books that deal with “battles” of war don’t interest me.  I’m more interested in knowing the planning, the background, the reasoning and the outcome.  But reading about bombs and bullets don’t hold my interest as well. I guess it’s hard for me to really appreciate such reflections since the horror and carnage doesn’t always come across as well as it should on a printed page.  I feel the same way, for example, reading about a sporting event.   An overview of a particular game is welcome reading, but the play-by-play gets too bogged down for my reading taste. I can WATCH it, but reading about that sort of detail just doesn’t interest me.

Yet author Mark Bowden does better than most.  I’ve actually read several non-fiction books by him and he’s never disappointed me. He has a keen sense of captivating his readers.  So whereas, we do read about the “play-by-play” accounts of the Battle of Mogadishu (as it became known as), he peppers his accounts with backgrounds of many of the actual people who participate, so we do feel a slight connection with all the players amidst the carnage.

Still, reading about battles, no matter how much they’re filtered, are terribly depressing. Unlike a sporting event I alluded too, this is the real deal with major consequences. People die, become crippled, or suffer severe post-traumatic stress that never leaves them.  Many would say such recollections are necessary as to caution us how we replicate our real-life efforts. I suppose, but the accounts are awfully harsh.

For me, the “best” part of this book was the conclusion.  Not that the battle was finally “over” (although, yes, that was a relief) but the fact that the author finally let the pages breathe and we read a bit about the aftereffects.  In fact, I would argue that if you really are stingy with time, you only need to read the first 50 pages and the last 50 pages of this work and still come away with a good understanding of the particular conflict and receive enjoyment. Unless, of course, you really do prefer a lot of detail. Detail, as I mentioned, isn’t my thing when reading about battles, but I can’t criticize a book simply because an author chooses to focus on particulars that many other readers may find rewarding. Also, it bears repeating that Bowden really does do a much better job than most.

So ultimately this book is a history lesson. It shows that war is never “neat and tidy” no matter how much of an advantage one side has over another.  All it takes is a couple of powerful helicopters to be unexpectedly hit and taken down for a battle to end up going horribly wrong and many soldiers getting killed.  Yes, soldiers die. Yet sadly, when the number of fatalities is relatively small, the mass media and the purveyors of the news don’t really allow the tragedy to sink in.  Unless, of course, those who died are YOUR family members.  Perhaps that was one of the goals of this book.  One can only hope that whereas these types of tragedies will never be completely vanquished, maybe with a brighter spotlight on them due to past events just might aid somewhat slightly in the reduction of the tragic consequences.