Book Review: Black Hawk Down

Finally, one of those book reviews I mentioned a few weeks ago.

I remember seeing the naked bodies of our soldiers being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu in 1993. I remember thinking how could some renegade tribal chief on the other side of the world do something like this?

I've just finished reading Black Hawk Down, a narrative history of the events around October 3, 1993 in Somalia, and I now understand much better how something like this could happen.

When our nation's military might is used to conquer bad guys, we commonly assume that the "people" of the bad guy's land want the bad guy conquered. This was not the case in Somalia. Our soldiers, Army Rangers and Delta force members, the vast majority under 24 years old, were faced with an enemy that looked like a mother holding an infant in one arm and a handgun in the other. What would you do? She's about to shoot you, and she's holding a baby.

Author Mark Bowden tells a gripping, fast-paced story. He writes this history as a narrative history, which is my favorite kind. It's not the ordinary, "Private Jones shot first. Private Smith shot next." Anyone could do that. In stead, Bowden takes his readers to the streets of Mogadishu. He tells us what life on the army base is like. Besides the targets they're shooting and the movements they make, Bowden gives us glimpses into the private lives of the Rangers being shot. He even gives us an idea of what some of the Somalis are thinking. A great and eye-opening read. Of course, you could watch the movie.

Next from Bowden is Guests of the Ayatollah, a telling of the Iranian hostage story. Can't wait.