Between Guam in 1945 and Desert Shield in 1990, I spent 20 Christmases overseas with U.S. troops. At the front in Korea in 1950, Douglas MacArthur made sure turkey got to his units when our army was in the middle of a long retreat and threatened with destruction: I was on a recon beyond the front lines when a jeep bounced up with turkey and all the goodies. In Vietnam in 1965, Gen. William Westmoreland choppered in to my paratroop unit to give us turkeys and a pep talk. In Somalia, rear-echelon pukes got the fatted goose, while those in the field got the shaft. “OK, say it was impossible to fly in a Christmas dinner like Vietnam,” said First Sgt. Steven Chouinard. “But they could have made Christmas cookies on all those ships off the coast and flown them out. It would have told the troops that someone cared.” Instead, they got MRE mystery rations. Very bad for morale. On Christmas Eve, a bat kamikazed into Alpha Company’s command-post wall, killing herself but depositing a little baby. For a moment the grunts started making Bethlehem jokes. But just in time someone thought better and they named the baby Saddam.
On Christmas Day the skipper of Alpha Company, Capt. Gordy Flowers, sent out eight patrols to show the flag, provide security and strengthen the sense of mission. Somalis with their children lined the roads, smiling and flashing the “V” sign. Muslims, they didn’t know it was a Christian holiday or anything about those missing turkeys, but they seemed damn glad to see troops riding roads now free of warlord “technicals” with all their guns.
Alpha Company landed at Baledogle air base the first week of Operation Restore Hope eager to tangle with the warlord gangs. Instead, the enemy disappeared into the red dirt like ants just before a rain. One of the first orders from Captain Flowers was for the grunts to drop their 100-pound rucksacks: a few minutes in the midday sun with that load and they would have dropped from heatstroke on the airstrip. Since then the buildup has been a mini FOR NEWSWEEK Desert Shield II in slow motion. At first nothing in Somalia worked. The ports and airfields were like the rest of the country: rusted, busted or ripped off. “Our biggest problem has been the lack of a logistical infrastructure,” says U.S. Marine Brig. Gen. Tony Zinni.
To Somalis, the U.S. grunts-dressed in combat helmets and flak jackets and armed to the teeth-must have looked like giants from another planet. Their rules of engagement were sledgehammer simple and as loose as I have ever seen: fire if threatened. Early on, gang members in three Somali vehicles made the mistake of firing at a USMC Cobra helicopter. “Say your prayers, varmint,” muttered the pilot as he went in for the kill. He melted them like a candle in a bonfire. A machine gunner in a gun-mounted “technical” vehicle trained his weapon on a squad of Marines and was taken out by leatherneck fire. Now the word is, Don’t mess with Operation Restore Hope.
Only a few weeks ago Mogadishu was an armed camp. Almost everyone including 12-year-old punks had AK-47s. Now the gangs have stashed their AK-47s and gotten out of town. General Zinni says the mission is “two weeks ahead of schedule.” Law and order will only return when weapons are brought under strict control and the Somali police force gets back on the beat. But special envoy Robert Oakley says that Germany has agreed to get the national police force back in action under U.N. control. And until then, he says, Operation Restore Hope will set up a provisional police force.
The military calls the tactical approach behind Operation Restore Hope the “oil blot.” Once a new center is opened, food distribution and civil action such as medical assistance and engineer support slowly seep out. As this blot grows larger, it connects with others, eventually covering the whole land. The technique used for seizing the major centers has been the same. First leaflets are dropped telling the people that the good guys are on the way. The next day Ambassador Oakley visits the target area to negotiate a nonviolent reception. The following day the muscle arrives, spearheaded by a paunchy squad of CIA hands who Rambo in like something out of a bad B movie. They are followed by a fast-moving rifle company well-covered by helicopter gunships and fighter aircraft. Food distribution and assistance soon get underway. This week the last two major cities, Belet Huen and Jalalaxi, should be free, and Somalia, a country the size of Texas, should be under U.S.-U.N. control.
So far the operation has offered good theater with little violence. Alpha Company’s most serious casualty has been Pfc. Arron Ballew, bitten by a viper during the night. Evacuated to a hospital ship, he returned to duty with the only war story and sear so far. But the situation could change in January as gangs are pushed up against the wall in the final phase of the operation. In any short, violent shoot-out, we will win, but we could possibly take light casualties.
The 30,000-man force the Pentagon envisioned was more than what has been needed. Companies like Alpha have been doing jobs that Pentagon planners had tasked for far larger units. Once again, as during Grenada, Panama and Kuwait, the military has overdosed on force levels. Now dozens of nations have signed up to join the U.N. peacekeeping team. So why doesn’t President Bush tell Gen. Colin Powell to start bringing the warriors home? The 2/9 Battalion of the United States Marine Corps and the Army’s Company A, 2/87th Infantry, could lead President Bill Clinton’s inaugural parade, closing out their mission as a symbol of what Bush meant when he talked about a kinder, gentler America. And it would give these fine warriors one helluva belated Christmas present.
Nearly 21,000 American and 2,300 allied troops by the weekend. Allies contributing forces included Canada, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia and Botswana.
A mine killed the first American, a civilian employee of the U.S. Army, and injured three others. Several Somali gunman wounded in scuffles with allied troops.
Belet Huen the next target for the allies, completing the takeover of all eight designated “humanitarian relief sectors” to secure food distribution. The Pentagon continues to resist U.N. pleas to disarm the local gunmen.
Kismayu: Port and airport secured Dec. 20
Bardera: Taken Dec. 24 and 25
Oddur: Taken Dec. 25
Jalalaxi: Target date Dec. 27
