It’s been a while since I watched it, but I’d definitely file it under US propaganda since I’m pretty sure they couch the fact that prior to this raid, the US blew up an entire council meeting with helicopter gunships, killing over 200 people including tribal elders who were all vying for peace. To this day the US claims it was a war council and a legitimate target.
So if you want to know why so many people in Mogadishu took up the chance to shoot Americans, now you know.
The book does offer the missing context, and is a truly fantastic piece of journalism. Mark Bowden went to immense effort to include the Somali perspectives on the events and the movie flattened out all of those details for the sake of creating some evocative villains.
I still think it’s one of the best war movies ever made, but yes, it absolutely is propaganda and needs to be understood as such.
It’s been a while since I watched it, but I’d definitely file it under US propaganda since I’m pretty sure they couch the fact that prior to this raid, the US blew up an entire council meeting with helicopter gunships, killing over 200 people including tribal elders who were all vying for peace. To this day the US claims it was a war council and a legitimate target.
So if you want to know why so many people in Mogadishu took up the chance to shoot Americans, now you know.
Thanks for the history lesson. Truly.
I don’t always get the details right when reciting from memory, but it was called the Bloody Monday Raid if anyone wants to read into it.
The Operations Room (youtube) also has a pretty good video series on Gothic Serpent and that’s where I first learned about this.
I’ll have to check that out. If that’s the channel I’m thinking of, they did a super-in-depth analysis of the battle for Iwo Jima that was amazing.
The book does offer the missing context, and is a truly fantastic piece of journalism. Mark Bowden went to immense effort to include the Somali perspectives on the events and the movie flattened out all of those details for the sake of creating some evocative villains.
I still think it’s one of the best war movies ever made, but yes, it absolutely is propaganda and needs to be understood as such.