AUT: Black Hawk Down: Hollywood and the Pentagon Rewrite History

[Scott Hamilton <s_h_hamilton@xxxxxxxxx>]

Reproduced below is the text of a leaflet which is
being distributed in Christchurch and Auckland, New
Zealand.

If you agree with the leaflet's message, then please
tell your friends that it's online at
http://www.geocities.com/anti_imperialist_coalition/BHD.htm
(Anyone wanting copes to distribute can e mail to the
AIC and MESC addresses given at the bottom of this
message.)

As Bush's war for global domination looks set to move
onto a massive new stage - and to prompt massive new
opposition, in the First as well as the Third World -
the job of opposing the Pentagon's propaganda wing
becomes more and more important.

BLACK HAWK DOWN:
HOLLYWOOD AND THE PENTAGON REWRITE HISTORY

What really happened in Somalia and why?

On December 12, 1992, the US sent 28,000 soldiers into
Somalia under the auspices of the United Nations in a
supposed "humanitarian operation" to bring food to
starving people. TV photo opportunities included a
staged D-Day style landing on the beach, to waiting
cameras, and copious news coverage of hungry Somalians
receiving food courtesy of the "international
community." What we didn't see was the other major
activity of the US forces of "Operation Restore Hope":
the almost daily gun battles in heavily populated
neighbourhoods which resulted in the deaths of over
10,000 Somalis in only ten months. Resistance to the
US presence in Somalia, which rapidly became
widespread, was brutally repressed.

Journalist Richard Dowden, not to be confused with
Mark Bowden, on whose book the film is based,
discovered that the US army started killing Somali
civilians right from the outset of its mission. "In
one incident, Rangers took a family hostage. When one
of the women started screaming at the Americans, she
was shot dead. In another incident, a Somali prisoner
was allegedly shot dead when he refused to stop
praying outside. Another was clubbed into silence."
The human rights group Africa Watch stated that the
United Nations' troops "have engaged in abuses of
human rights, including killing of civilians, physical
abuse, theft?" The abuses included turning machine
guns on unarmed protesters and the firing of missiles
into residential areas. The report concluded that
"UNOSOM has become an army of occupation."

Why did the US intervene in Somalia?

By 1991, the pro-US President Siad Barre had leased
nearly two thirds of Somalia to four US oil companies.
When he was overthrown, the US needed another way of
guaranteeing their interests. Initially they chose a
local leader, Mohammed Farrah Aideed, but when he
proved unreliable, they intervened directly. And when
the US intervenes, it means business. A few days
before the troops hit the beach, the US embassy set up
shop in oil company Conoco's corporate compound. At
the same time, Colin Powell, then chairing the US
military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, described the
invasion as a "paid political advertisement" for the
Pentagon. Powell opposed calls to spend more money on
the pressing needs of health, housing and education,
taking the opportunity to argue instead for continued
military spending. Now, as this movie whitewashes the
role of the US military in Somalia, Colin Powell,
George W Bush and the US army are casting about for
new countries to invade as they continue their "War on
Terrorism." Somalia is again high on the list. What
better way to prepare people for this new aggression
than a movie that, in the words of New York Times
critic Elvis Mitchell, "converts the Somalis into a
pack of snarling dark-skinned beasts..."

How does New Zealand fit in?

Here in New Zealand, the government was quick to
commit SAS soldiers and other military resources to
the "War on Terrorism." Who knows whether they will be
deployed to kill Somalians this year, just as they
were sent to kill the Afghan people last year? There
was money immediately available to beef up the SIS and
send troops to far flung corners of the globe, but if
we want our kids to get a good education or an
operation at hospital, or if nurses want a pay rise,
we're told the coffers are empty. There's something
wrong when it's easier to get extra funding to join an
international bombing attack on the world's poorest
and most defenceless countries than it is to fund a
hospital.

"The first casualty of war is truth"

The US military cooperated intimately in the making of
this film, supplying staff, expertise and equipment to
make the action look as realistic as possible. But
that's not the same as "showing what really happened".
Before the film was released, the Motion Picture
Association of America held a private screening for
senior White House advisers, allowing them to make
changes to the movie. What chance was there that they
would allow the depiction of helicopter gunships
firing indiscriminately at people in the streets and
markets of Mogadishu? What chance was there that they
would allow US soldiers to be depicted, as most
interviewed by Mark Bowden described, firing "on
crowds and eventually at anyone and anything they
saw"?

But at least while we watch the film, we can admire
the personal courage and morality of the individual
soldiers involved, right? Well, unfortunately no. It's
no surprise that they gave a new name to Ewan
McGregor's character, Company Clerk John Grimes for
the film. The real John Grimes, John "Stebby"
Stebbins, is now serving a 30-year sentence in Fort
Leavenworth military prison for raping a 12-year-old
girl.

If you're looking for a true story, you're as likely
to find it in Lord of the Rings as in Black Hawk Down.
We hope you enjoy the film, but remember to treat it
as you might any other action fantasy. Also bear in
mind that the "heroes" of Delta Force are actually the
soldiers of an invading army, and the forces of the
"evil Somali warlords" are actually defending
themselves and their country from an entirely
unprovoked attack. And in Somalia today, people are
bracing themselves for Black Hawk Down 2, only that
will be real, and New Zealand should have no part in
it.

This leaflet was produced by the Middle East
Information and Solidarity Collective, PO. Box 513,
Christchurch www.revolution.org.nz

In Auckland, this leaflet is promoted and distributed
by the Anti-Imperialist Coalition. email:
anti_imperialist@xxxxxxxxxxx
Phone 025 2800080
The AIC meets weekly on Wednesdays @ 7.30pm at Trades
Hall, 147 Great North Rd, Grey Lynn.

Join a NZ anti-capitalist, anti-war e-group by
visiting
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/antiwar_anticap_nz/

Follow worldwide anti-war news at
http://www.antiwar.com





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