Losing Mogadishu: Testing U.S. Policy in Somalia [Hardcover]

Jonathan Stevenson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1995

This book analyzes what caused the Somalian Operation to fail after its initial success opening up food channels.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 183 pages
• Publisher: US Naval Institute Press (April 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557507880
• ISBN-13: 978-1557507884
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,077,197 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #91 in Books > History > Africa > Somalia

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Much Different than Black Hawk Down, October 14, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Losing Mogadishu: Testing U.S. Policy in Somalia (Hardcover)

The book tells the story of recent Somali culture and Aidid's rise to power. The main points of Stevenson's argument revolve around how the U.S. lacked intelligence on what the real problems were in Somalia. He tells a story of clan warfare in Somalia where teenagers have grown up in the midst of gunfire; how 18 and 25 year olds are battle hardened soldiers. Stevenson asserts that while Somalis tend to hate members of the other clans, they dislike outsiders even more. There is no Somali nationalism except in the respect that they hate anyone who is not a Somali. The failure of the U.S. to understand these elements of Somali society culture led to many mistakes during the tenure of Operation Restore Hope. At the end of the book, Stevenson offers seven "lessons" the U.S. should take away from Somalia. They are the key portion of the book and are summarized below.

Lesson 1: Military Intervention is the Last Resort

All other avenues of solving the problem must be exhausted before turning to military intervention. U.S. and U.N. hopes for success were dashed when they stopped dealing with Aidid as a statesman and began treating him as a criminal. Stevenson writes that one of the realities of the Post Cold War era is that "terrorists become statesmen" and the U.S. only strengthened Aidid by casting him as the villain and blaming for all of Somalia's problems. The U.S. belief that getting rid of Aidid would get rid of the problems was naïve.

When intervention is necessary, Stevenson believes regional forces should handle the situation. He states that using regional forces is preferable because 1) free trade and regional stability will be promoted if neighbors are forced to deal with and solve one another's problems, 2) local solutions are likely to be less costly, 3) countries in the region will have more intimate knowledge of the problems and culture, and 4) should more intervention become necessary, regional resistance to outside intervention will be reduced because a regional solution has already failed.

Lesson 2: Know Your Enemy

The American view of the Somalis as intellectually, culturally, militarily inferior fits with the typical imagery of viewing a developing country as a child. Stevenson argues this kind of either ignorance or arrogance lead to unnecessary consequences in Somalia. The U.S. failed to understand that while Somalis loathe rival clan and subclan members, they loathe outsiders even more. They also did a sloppy job of military planning at the tactical level. U.S. helicopters flew the same routes and used the same formulas for their "snatch and grab" missions everyday-fly in and have Delta Force sweep the target areas while ringed by Rangers for protection. Thus, the Somalis knew where to direct fire to take down a helicopter and what to do once American troops were on the ground. American planners also did a poor job with translations on leaflet drops, provided little historical or cultural knowledge for the soldier on the ground, and did not comprehend the role khat played in lives of the gun-toting young men. Had the U.S. done a thorough job of examining Somali history and culture, they may have been able to avoid such mistakes.

Lesson 3: Establish Tight Command-and-Control

Decentralized command-and-control led to some unfortunate mishaps in Somalia. The U.S. had difficulty controlling arms flows to the Somalis because other states' peacekeeping forces took a much more relaxed approach to their mission, translating into a porous hole through which Somalis could smuggle arms or whatever they wanted. Different UNOSOM II factions had different rules of engagement, confusing the Somalis about what behavior was acceptable and what was not. Other fractured communications structures meant delays in reinforcements and wrong turns made by the convoy during the October 3 firefight.

Lesson 4: Let Soldiers be Soldiers

The argument here is that soldiers were not trained to act as a police force or mediators. Having to be passive does not mesh with what they are trained to do. Some soldiers even began dubbing their mission "Groundhog Day" because they repeated the same tasks day in and day out. Stevenson suggests interventions such as Somalia should be about compellance rather than deterrence. The U.S. military is trained to be aggressive and proactive, putting them in passive situations is asking them to do a job for which they are not prepared.

Lesson 5: Prefer Active Security to Passive Force

Very similar to Lesson 4, this lesson addresses the type of force that should be used in interventions as opposed to what soldiers types of actions soldiers should be allowed to undertake. Stevenson recommends less reliance on manpower and more on weaponry. The mistake in Somalia was applying the overwhelming force doctrine and only securing American compounds and distribution routes. What they should have been doing was securing territory and pursuing active disarmament of the Somalis.

Lesson 6: Keep Vietnam in Perspective

Riddled throughout the narrative in the earlier portion of the book are references to how politicians and military men alike wanted to avoid another Vietnam. Stevenson points out how Somalia's situation differed in many respects from that which American forces faced in Vietnam. He prescribes using small, mobile, technological units engaging in aggressive actions that stress agility, diversion, and the element of surprise.

Lesson 7: Plan for Decent Intervals

The notion underpinning this lesson is better planning on the transition phase must occur. Gradually phasing out U.S. soldiers and replacing them with a multilateral U.N. peacekeeping force would "allow the beneficiary population to be weaned of its dependence." Pulling troops out en masse makes it much more likely the country will experience a relapse. The U.S. must ensure that the U.N. is in a position to manage the situation before the U.S. abandons the area.