Military Brass Resigned Over ‘Black Hawk Down,’ But Not Afghanistan
The actions of officials responsible for the failed Battle of Mogadishu seem relics of a bygone era compared to leadership’s response after the Afghanistan withdrawal.
By Edward Chang
October 6, 2021
The Battle of Mogadishu began in the early afternoon of October 3, 1993, ending in the early morning of October 4. In the worst firefight for the U.S. military since the Vietnam War, 18 American soldiers were killed in action, with another killed days later in a mortar attack on the base housing the troops.
The day after the battle, Maj. Gen. William Garrison, commander of the special operations task force that fought in it, assumed full responsibility for the outcome in a lengthy write-up to the commander-in-chief. Later that year, Defense Secretary Les Aspin resigned in one of the shortest tenures at the post, with the Somalia debacle cited as one of the strikes against him.
The actions of both Garrison and Aspin seem relics of a bygone era, considering the recent dust-up in Afghanistan. Consensus is largely unanimous that the U.S. evacuation did not go well, although some supporters of withdrawal insist it would have always unfolded in this fashion.
However, the deaths of 13 American servicemembers due to a suicide bombing on August 26 recall “Black Hawk Down” and how the military leadership most closely associated with the tragic outcome were not only held accountable but did so voluntarily. Garrison, in his letter, went as far as to say, “President Clinton and Sec. Aspin need to be taken off the blame line.”
Currently, not a single U.S. leader, civilian or military, has assumed full responsibility nor resigned for the events in Afghanistan. Nobody on-scene responsible for coordinating the evacuation and securing the Kabul airport has followed in Garrison’s footsteps, to say nothing of uniformed leadership at the Pentagon. Outside opposition political circles, there is no indication Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is under any serious pressure to vacate his position.
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https://thefederalist.com/2021/10/06/military-brass-resigned-over-black-hawk-down-but-not-afghanistan/
