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Thread ID: 7867 | Posts: 5 | Started: 2003-07-05
2003-07-05 05:07 | User Profile
'Black Hawk Down' - An American Fable
**Created: 25th February 2002 'Black Hawk Down' - An American Fable
War movies are a revealing form of culture - who we kill and why we kill them says quite a lot about how we see ourselves, and other people. Black Hawk Down is a case in point. For three weeks in early 2002, this was the No 1 film at the US box office, and you are unlikely to get a clearer printout of the militantly neurotic current state of the American psyche. For other people living in Western democracies, the film is relevant for the way it depicts Somalis, the most recent refugee group to enter many of their countries in large numbers.
Somalis (or 'skinnies' as they are called in the film) are slaughtered by the score in Black Hawk Down, just like Red Indians, Zulus and other fuzzy-wuzzies were mown down by Hollywood in the earlier days of empire. In a key speech, a Somali militia leader first mocks Americans in general for giving up smoking (PC is for weaklings) and then tells his American captive:
There will always be killing here. That's how things are in this world. Got that, Mr Do-Gooder liberal? This country is a basketcase.
Oscar Contender
In a few weeks' time, director Ridley Scott will be a contender for the best director Oscar for his work on Black Hawk Down. In recent times, the Oscar process has put some of its showcase movies through a grilling - is this film totally, factually true? - before conferring awards on them. A couple of years ago, media scrutiny sank the Oscar chances of The Hurricane, when word got out that the life of boxer Rubin Carter had not been depicted with strict documentary accuracy.
This year, the Russell Crowe star vehicle A Beautiful Mind - about the struggles that maths genius John Nash had with schizophrenia - has run into similar strife. Key facts about Nash's life were omitted, seemingly because director Ron Howard felt that they would complicate the uplifting message that he had in mind: namely, that wacky, wayward superbrains can still triumph over any adversity, given the love of a good woman. Thus, we do not learn from the film that Nash was bisexual, or that his wife divorced him in 1963. Crowe, incidentally, sinks to the occasion in a scenery-chewing riot of mad-guy mannerisms.
No such quibbles about Black Hawk Down. There has been barely a whisper about its lies and distortions, apart from one excellent piece in Slate magazine by Mickey Kaus, to which this article is heavily indebted. It is as though the critics have felt patriotically obliged - since September 11 - to endorse any major film that portrays the US military in a positive light. Some sense of the political purposes that the film so willingly serves can be gleaned from its Washington premiere, which attracted Vice-President Dick Cheney, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Oliver North and other military top brass. As General John Keane told reporters:
Jerry Bruckheimer [the producer of Black Hawk Down] came into my office and said, 'General, we're going to make a movie that you and your army will be proud of.' He did that, and we thank him.
Thousands of videotapes of the film have been sent to US military bases abroad.
Glorification Of White Boys In Uniform
That is a fairly frightening prospect. Although Black Hawk Down has been widely praised for its gritty depiction of men in combat, it is essentially a glorification of white boys in uniform fighting bravely against hordes of black Muslim fanatics. The film concentrates on a bloodbath that occurred on October 3, 1993, when 18 US troops (and 500-1000 Somalis) were killed in downtown Mogadishu during a botched US attempt to capture two followers of the Somali warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid. Studio head Joe Roth had no qualm about keeping it simple. To justify the number of Africans killed in the film, the Wall Street Journal reported:
Mr Roth insisted that the films central villain, Somali warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid, be unmistakably portrayed as a 'Hitler-like figure' responsible for thousands of killings.
To hammer this point home, the film opens with Aidid's men shooting down starving Somali civilians at a Red Cross food-bank A caption onscreen gives the date for this completely fictitious event as October 2, one day before the fateful firefight.
Central Distortion
The invented incident not only damns Aidid, it sets up the audience for the film's central distortion. The film blurs two separate phases of the US and UN actions in Somalia - the food effort (called Operation Restore Hope) that occupied much of 1992, and the 'nation-building' phase in 1993. There is no doubt that the deployment of US and UN troops did save thousands of lives in Somalia - even if the delays in implementing the relief programme also cost thousands of lives, and the famine death toll reportedly peaked before the troops arrived. More to the point, the subsequent US-led military campaign to install a fresh political system in Somalia was a total disaster, widely resented by Somalis. By deliberately placing the firefight into the context of the food-relief effort, the film makes the US presence in Somalia seem utterly innocent - and makes the hostile response by Aidid and his followers seem utterly evil. Good propaganda, but phoney history.
Dangerous American Worldview
Does this matter? Yes. Films such as Black Hawk Down are feeding an extremely dangerous American worldview that sees their boys in uniform as brave hearts seeking only to do good in the world - in the face of Muslim fanatics with dark skins and hearts of unfathomable evil. Certainly, Aidid was no saint. Yet he was also the leader of the Habr Gedir clan, the stronger of two groups seeking to control Mogadishu. He had earned that status by first toppling the dictator Siad Barre - who had armed the country to the teeth during the previous decade's Cold War struggles within the region - and by then rooting out Barre's destructive attempt at a comeback.
Paranoia Fueled
The foolhardy US decision to 'marginalise' Aidid and try to create a new political system without him was therefore bound to be widely resented. It was also bound to fuel Aidid's paranoia about the UN and its Egyptian Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who had been a friend and strong supporter of Barre - and who had personally ensured (some years before) that Aidid was deported from Egypt. Ironically, a key US advocate for targeting Aidid - a $US25,000 reward for his head was offered on 'Wanted' posters pasted all over Mogadishu - was the State Department official April Glaspie, the same genius who had given Saddam Hussein what he assumed was a 'green light' to invade Kuwait. As a colleague later said of Glaspie's twin diplomatic disasters: 'She has trouble with men.'
Sense Of Persecution
By mid-1993, the Somali sense of persecution had resulted in major bloodshed. Quite untruthfully, Black Hawk Down says onscreen that 'Aidid's militia' first killed 24 UN Pakistani soldiers and then began to 'target' US troops. Almost the exact reverse is true. US troops had begun to target Aidid before the Pakistanis were killed by a spontaneous Somali mob. Stupidly, the UN had tried to close down Aidid's radio station, while leaving open the station run by his rival, Ali Mahdi. A later inquiry found the Pakistani action in entering the radio station was 'provocative' and 'unwise'.
The Fire-fight
These distortions are nothing compared to the film's handling of the October 3 fire-fight itself. Statements such as 'We're going in' and the satisfaction shown by the soldiers suggests that they were finally going to see some action. In fact, this was the seventh time since June that US troops had carried out deadly military sorties in downtown Mogadishu targeted at Aidid or his supporters. That is not counting the numerous forays by US choppers - they would regularly hover and use the wake from their blades to blow apart the tin and wooden shacks below, in a procedure that US troops jokingly called 'rotor washing'.
Met With Ferocity
In particular, the film omits entirely the event that explains why US troops were met with such ferocity on the streets of Mogadishu. Months before - on July 12, 1993 - a clan meeting was held at the house of an Aidid official to discuss a peace proposal from the UN's main official, Admiral Jonathan Howe. Many clan members opposed to Aidid were present when the gathering was attacked by US Cobra attack choppers that fired 16 missiles and 2000 rounds of cannon fire into the house. Religious leaders and elders were slaughtered. An enraged Somali crowd then killed four journalists who arrived to cover the carnage. For Somalis, the firefight featured in the film was payback time for this massacre, known as Bloody Monday.
In sum, as a guide to events in Somalia during 1993, Black Hawk Down is a complete travesty. As propaganda for current US adventures in the Third World, though, it does a highly effective job. It shows Americans just what happens to lads in uniform when the liberals in Washington fail to commit the full weight to the American military machine - where were the AC-130 Spectre gunships? - in Third World trouble spots.
A Change of Method
No such problems these days. In Afghanistan the US chose to work directly with the warlords rather than 'marginalise' them, and Spectre gunships were unleashed on Afghan towns without compunction. In the West, any Somali or Afghan who might still seek retribution for the slaughter of their kin is seen these days as an al-Qaeda bogeyman. How long will it take before Hollywood even begins to consider whether their grievances are valid? About 15 years, by the rule of thumb suggested by John Sayles, the maverick US film director:
It was a good 15 years after World War II before you started seeing Japanese in films who were not just spectacled, bucktoothed, evil-empire kind of guys.
[url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A700769]http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A700769[/url] **
2003-07-05 05:20 | User Profile
I don't know if I agree with this. I mean, any movie that shows Whites mowing down [url=http://www.vdare.com/francis/maine.htm]Somali scum[/url] can't be all bad. :gun:
2003-07-05 06:23 | User Profile
Glorification Of White Boys In Uniform
Right off the bat, I'm getting a hinky feeling. Considering a white guy almost certainly wrote this review.....which leads to...
War movies are a revealing form of culture - who we kill and why we kill them says quite a lot about how we see ourselves, and other people.
But not nearly as revealing as white people who use the phrase 'white boys' as a sneering putdown.
**Films such as Black Hawk Down are feeding an extremely dangerous American worldview that sees their boys in uniform as brave hearts seeking only to do good in the world - in the face of Muslim fanatics with dark skins and hearts of unfathomable evil. Certainly, Aidid was no saint. **
That last line utterly negates the preceding paragraph. "No saint" usually translates into "yeah, okay, he kiled thousands, but wild horses won't get me to judge a black man for his mass murders while there are white people who are guiltier of far worse - like living in the suburbs, driving SUVs, or crossing the street to avoid a colored wolfpack."
And is this the new code? Lord knows I'm dead set against The "Liberation" of Iraq, but are we now going to reclassify every black as a Muslim or potential Muslim to milk the white-guilt teat? Did someone decide the shortcut to reparations & Affirmative action is through a mosque?
I get as nauseous as anyone else at the idea of Uncle Sam massacring people in tin huts IN MY NAME. I'm fully aware that "lads in uniform" - any uniform - are as capable of carnage as courage, which is a darn good reason not to commit troops to vanity ventures like the Somali "rescue". You unleash the dogs of war where carnage is called for - self defense or protection of vital interests. (The country's vital interests, not Dick Cheney's.)
But what do you suppose would be the reaction of twerps like the author of this piece had America publicly said, "Let Somalia burn - we're not going in"? Whining apoplexy and the exhumation of every tired worthless allusion to slavery, Dred Scott, "3/5 of a human being", etc. This human-Yorkshire-pudding's gonna be spelling "America" with three k's regardless ....whether we'd gone in or stayed out.
Now imagine the size of the tampon he'd require if an American President had had the brass to publicly say, "Somalia? No thanks. Our own domestic primates have killed 40,000 of our 'white boys' the past three decades already; we don't need to order out for more. May I suggest midnight basketball? It's worked wonders for us."
2003-07-05 06:47 | User Profile
**I don't know if I agree with this. I mean, any movie that shows Whites mowing down Somali scum can't be all bad.ÃÂ :gun: **
Be much better if it took place in America's ghettos rather than sending white boys off to die in Africa. Let the Blacks have their own continent, we'll live our lives here. Those Somalis were no real threat to us.
2003-07-05 14:54 | User Profile
Thought you might enjoy reading this account of "Blackhawk Down". The author was one of the Blackhawk pilots depicted in the movie Blackhawk Down. He now flies for Comair. Got this from a friend. "During the last few days many pilots have come up to me and asked me if I had seen the movie "Blackhawk Down." I don't mind talking about the movie, and I welcome the opportunity to talk about the heroism and valor of my friends. I just wanted to post some comments here about the movie and my impressions. Also I wanted to try to answer some frequently asked questions.
First of all, I and many of my friends, that also flew on the mission, thought that the movie was excellent! It is technically accurate and it is dramatically correct. In other words, the equipment, lingo and dialogue are all right on. By dramatically correct, I mean that it very effectively captured the emotions and tension that we all felt during the mission.
It did this without being a cartoon, (like TOP GUN) or being over the top, (like FIREBIRDS). It's true that the screenwriters had to consolidate two or three people into one, but this was necessary because otherwise there would have been too many principal characters to keep track of.
Also in the actual mission we had nearly 20 aircraft in the air that day. In the movie they had 4 Blackhawks and 4 "Little Birds." The unit could not afford to commit the actual number to the filming of the movie. However, through the magic of the cinema, they were able to give the impression of the real number.
Our force mixture was as follows: Super 61 - Lead Blackhawk; Star 41-44 Little Bird Assault; Super 62 - Trail Blackhawk. These aircraft made up the assault force. Their mission was to go into the buildings and capture the individuals who were the target of the day.
Super 61 was shotdown, killing both pilots. (They were CW4 Cliff Wolcott and CW3 Donovan Briley. The three of us shared a room at the airfield.) Star 41 landed at the crashsite and the pilot CW4 Keith Jones ran over and dragged two survivors to his aircraft and took off for the hospital. Keith re-enacted his actions in the movie. Super 62 was the Blackhawk that put in the two Delta snipers, Sergeant First Class Randy Shughart and Master Sergeant Gary Gordon. They were inserted at crashsite #2.
Shortly after Gary and Randy were put in Super 62 was struck in the fuselage by an antitank rocket. The whole right side of the aircraft was opened up and the sniper manning the right door gun had his leg blown off.
The aircraft was able to make it out of the battle area to the port area where they made a controlled crash landing. (This is not depicted in the movie.)
Next was the Ranger Blocking Force. This consisted of 4 Blackhawks: Super 64 (CW3 Mike Durant, CW4 Ray Frank); Super 65 (Me, Cpt Richard Super 66 (CW3 Stan Wood, CW4 Gary Fuller); Super 67 (CW3 Jeff Niklaus, CW2 Sam Shamp)
The mission of the blocking force was to be inserted at the four corners of the objective building and to prevent any Somali reinforcements from getting through. In the movie there is a brief overhead shot of the assault.
My aircraft is depicted in the lower left hand corner of the screen. This was the only part of the film where I come close to being mentioned. As the assault is completed, you hear the Blackhawks calling out of the objective area. When you hear, "...Super 65 is out, going to holding..." that's my big movie moment. There is also a quick shot of an RPG being shot at a hovering Blackhawk. I did have one, maybe two, fired at me, but I did not see them or the gunner. I only heard the explosions. We were not able to return fire, although some of the other aircraft did. Make no mistake. I am fully aware of my role in this mission. My job was the same as the landing boat drivers in "Saving Private Ryan." Get the troops in the right place in one piece. I am very proud of the fact that my crew and I were able to do that. After having done this in Grenada, Panama and Somalia, I can identify with the bombardiers of World War Two. You have to ignore all of the chaos that is going on around and completely concentrate on the tasks at hand. That is holding the aircraft as steady as possible so the Rangers can slide down the ropes as quickly and safely as possible.
Okay, Okay, enough about me. Super 64 was shot down also with an RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenade). They tried to make it back to the airfield, but their tail rotor gave way about a mile out of the objective area. They went down in the worst part of bad guy territory. The dialogue for the movie appears to have been taken from the mission tapes as it is exactly as I remember it. (This was the hardest part of the movie for me to watch).
The actions on the ground are as described by Mike Durant, as he was the only one from the crew to survive the crash and the gun battle. It was here the Gary and Randy won their Posthumous Medals of Honor.
Super 66 was called in at about 2000 hours to resupply the Rangers at the objective area. Some of the Rangers were completely out of ammunition and were fighting hand to hand with the Somali militia men. (Also not depicted in the movie). Stan and Gary brought their aircraft in so that they were hovering over the top of the Olympic Hotel with the cargo doors hanging out over the front door. In this way they were able to drop the ammo, water and medical supplies to the men inside. Stan's left gunner fired 1600 rounds of minigun ammo in 30 seconds. He probably killed between 8 to 12 Somali militia men. As Stan pulled out of the objective area, he headed to the airfield because his right gunner had been wounded, as had the two Rangers in the back who were throwing out the supplies. Once he landed, he discovered that he'd been hit by about 40-50 rounds and his transmission leaking oil like a sieve.
Super 66 was done for the night. The final group of aircraft were the 4 MH6 gunships, and the command and control Blackhawk and the Search and Rescue 'Hawk'. They were Barber 51-54 MH6's; Super 63 C&C; Super 68 SAR
In the movie, the gunships are shown making only one attack. In fact, they were constantly engaged all night long. Each aircraft reloaded six times.
It is estimated that they fired between 70 and 80,000 rounds of minigun ammo and fired a total 90 to 100 aerial rockets. They were the only thing that kept the Somalis from overrunning the objective area. All 8 gunship pilots were awarded the Silver Star. Every one of them deserved it!
Next is Super 68. The actions of this crew were very accurately portrayed. The only difference was that they were actually hit in the rotor blades by an RPG. This blew a semicircle out of the main rotor spar, but the blade held together long enough for them to finish putting in the medics and Rangers at the first crashsite. It was then that they headed to the airfield. What they did not know, was that their main trans-mission and engine oil cooler had been destroyed by the blast. As they headed to the airfield all 7 gallons of oil from the main rotor gearbox, and all 7 quarts from each engine was pouring out. They got the aircraft on the ground just as all oil pressures went to zero. They then shutdown, ran to the spare aircraft and took off to rejoin the battle. They were in the air just in time to affect the MEDEVAC of Super 62, which had landed at the seaport. The pilots of this aircraft were CW3 Dan Jollota, and MAJ Herb Rodriguez. Both men were later awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Major Rodriguez is retired from the Army now and he teaches middle school with my wife in Clarksville, Tennessee.
Finally there is the Command and Control Blackhawk, Super 63. In the back of this aircraft was my battalion commander, LTC Matthews, and the overall ground commander, LTC Harrell.
In the movie, there is a scene where the men on the ground were begging for MEDEVAC. By this point in the battle we had 5 Blackhawks out of action, either shot down or shot up so much they couldn't fly anymore. Of the two assault force and four blocking force 'hawks', only myself and Super 67 were left. I fully expected LTC Harrell to send us in to try to get those men out.
I jacked a round into the chamber of my pistol and my M16. I knew that the only way to do it was to hover with one wheel balanced on the roof of the building. Then the Rangers would be able to throw the wounded in. I knew that we were going to take a lot of fire and I was trying to mentally prepare myself to do this while the aircraft was getting hit. My friends had all gone in and taken their licks and now I figured it was our turn. (Peer pressure is such a powerful tool if used properly.) Quite frankly, I really thought that we were at best going to get shot down, at worst I figured we were going to be killed
The way I saw it we had already lost 5 aircraft, what was 2 more? I had accepted this because at least when this was all over General Garrison would be able to tell the families that we had tried everything to get their sons, fathers or husbands out. We were even willing to send in our last two helicopters. Fortunately for me, LTC Harrell realized that the time for helicopters had passed. The decision was made to get the tanks and armored personnel carriers to punch through to the objective area. Once again, the dialogue in the movie is verbatim. What you don't hear is me breathing a sigh of relief! I remembered thinking that maybe I was going to see the sunrise after all.
I guess I got a little carried away. I really didn't mean to write this much. People ask me if this movie has given me 'flashbacks'. I don't think you can call them flashbacks if that day has never been out of my mind.
I hope that when you do see the movie it will fill you with pride and awe for the Rangers that fought their hearts out that day. Believe me, they are made of the same stuff as those kids at Normandy Beach. When 1LT Tom DiTomasso, the Ranger platoon leader on my aircraft, told me that we did a fantastic job, I couldn't imagine ever receiving higher praise than that.
I love my wife and children, but the greatest thing I've ever done is to be a Nightstalker Pilot with Task Force Ranger on 3-4 Oct 1993.
Thank you for reading this. I look forward to answering any and all questions anyone may have about the movie or the actual battle. I just thought that this might fill in some of the blanks. Thank you again.
Capt. Gerry Izzo (Super65) "NSDQ" ("Nightstalkers Don't Quit ")