A US Marine went to Somalia and became a warlord
His father, Mohamed Farrah Aidid, fought U.S. troops in the 'Black Hawk Down' incident.
By Blake Stilwell
Updated Dec 19, 2025 9:06 PM PST
United States Marines have done some crazy things during deployments. We’re not even certain that becoming a Somali warlord takes the cake, because one Marine stole Princess Meriam al-Khalifa of Bahrain and another became the king of a Haitian voodoo island. So if you’re a Marine Corps NCO reading this, just ask yourself: Do you know where all your Marines are right now?
If the name Hussein Aidid kinda sounds familiar, it’s because his father, Mohamed Farrah Aidid, was a central figure in the 2001 film “Black Hawk Down.” Many will remember that the Battle of Mogadishu erupted because American forces were trying to capture some of his top lieutenants on his territory. But his history goes back well before Americans landed in Somalia.
Mohamed Aidid was the leader of the Habr Gidr clan, who vied for power in the wake of the fall of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre’s Somali regime, which he and his United Somali Cogress helped to topple. The years that followed saw Somalia fall into famine and civil war, with the war helping exacerbate the country’s food insecurity.
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