The Legacy of Black Hawk Down [View All]

[Wetzelbill]

This is a good little piece in remembrance of BHD.

The Legacy of Black Hawk Down
By KENNETH L. CAIN

Published: October 3, 2000

Oct. 3, 1993, Mogadishu, Somalia. — Sundays at my house in the United Nations residential compound in Mogadishu are almost normal. I crank up the air conditioning, sleep late and pretend it's a fall football weekend back home in Ann Arbor. I go up on the roof to read under the weakening sun and turn on Armed Forces Radio. They have a sexy-sounding female D.J. on Sundays: "99.9 FM Mogadishu, rockin' the Dish. Keep your head down and the volume up. And you thought the desert was hot." I plop down and try to do a few push-ups. But it's too hot and I'm too lazy. This is the first moment I've been able to relax since I was ambushed six days ago.

As a civilian officer in the United Nations' Justice Division, I've been working with Somali judges to re-establish the court system in south Mogadishu. When we tried to inaugurate the courts the previous Monday, we were attacked by militia loyal to Gen. Mohammed Farah Aidid — the Somali warlord who is battling with United Nations and American forces, as well as other Somali factions, for control of Mogadishu. The Somalis sprayed heavy and inaccurate AK-47 fire at us for more than an hour; our blue-helmeted United Nations escorts returned deadly accurate fire from their huge mounted .50-caliber machine guns and we eventually escaped unhurt.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/03/opinion/03CAIN.html