'Black Hawk Down' doesn't tell whole story

A new film about the ambush of U.S. special operations soldiers during a mission in Somalia nearly a decade ago leaves out important "behind-the-scenes" details that few Americans have ever heard, according to an author and military researcher familiar with the battle.

Tom McKenny, co-author of "The Clinton Chronicles" – a book and video exposing alleged Clinton-era scandals – said the film, "Black Hawk Down: Leave No Man Behind," doesn't quite do justice to the 100 U.S. Army Rangers and Delta Force troops ambushed in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Oct. 3, 1993, by forces loyal to wanted warlord Mohammed Farrah Aidid.

"The American public has never been told some of these things," except as relayed by McKenny several years ago in "Chronicles," he said.

Relying on first-hand accounts and interviews with the family members of soldiers involved in the so-called "Battle of Mogadishu," McKenny said the movie – which is No. 1 at the box office this week – does a good job of depicting the bravery and mettle of American troops under fire. Eighteen troopers were killed during the 18-hour battle, and 73 were wounded. An estimated 500 enemy were killed, according to reports.

But it just doesn't tell the complete story, he says.

Little-known details

On Oct. 3, a force of about 100 Rangers and Delta Force troopers rappelled from more than a dozen Black Hawk helicopters into a building complex in Mogadishu, after several Cobra helicopter gunships sent missiles into many buildings thought to contain Aidid and his Habr Gidr clan leaders.

The Army's mission was to capture two of Aidid's top lieutenants; they and others, including Aidid, were being held responsible by Washington and the U.N. for a June 5 ambush that had left 24 Pakistani peacekeepers dead.

Early into the mission, however, the American force was ambushed by hundreds of Aidid's men. Two of the helicopters were shot down, and the entire company of U.S. troops was immediately surrounded and pinned down.

According to Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Mark Bowden – who penned a book with the same title as the movie and on which the film is based – the American force immediately began taking hostile fire when they landed.

"Fire was getting heavier. To officers [at] the command center, it was as if their men had poked a stick into a hornet's nest," Bowden wrote.

McKenny said one incident that wasn't in the movie had to do with the rescue mission commanders put together to extract U.S. troops.

"After the troops began to take terrible casualties and [a pre-staged] reaction force could not get to them, it was necessary to force, at gunpoint in some cases, the Malaysian and Pakistani commanders to move their tanks in and rescue the American troops," he told WorldNetDaily.

McKenny said History Channel depictions of Bowden's book "shows tanks finally – after some of the soldiers had died unnecessarily – shows the armor moving in to take care of the situation, but it was many, many hours too late."

Shortly after the battle, the Clinton administration and, specifically, the late Les Aspin, Clinton's first defense secretary, were criticized heavily by military experts because the American force had been sent in to a known Aidid stronghold without proper air and armor support.

Indeed, commanders for the mission had requested Bradley armored personnel carriers for their men, but Aspin and the Pentagon refused the request.

"Every Ranger who was there (at the battle) knew that it was absurd not to have tanks or armored personnel carriers and other air support denied them for political reasons," McKenny said.

The author also noted that James Smith, a former Ranger captain and father of Cpl. Jamie Smith – who bled to death after he was shot in the leg during the battle, because he could not be evacuated – returned a letter of condolence from President Clinton. In rejecting it, he sent a letter of his own, blaming Clinton for the Mogadishu debacle.

Also not in the movie was an after-action incident between Clinton and the parents of two Delta Force soldiers – MSgt. Gary Gordon, 33, and SFC Randy Shughart, 35 – who were killed in action but posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions.

McKenny said that family members were invited to the White House to receive the medals. Clinton reportedly invited the parents of Gordon and Shughart into the Oval Office for a private meeting.

When he did, "he stuck his hand out to shake the hands of the parents, but Randy Shughart's father refused to take Clinton's hand."

Then, McKenny said, "he looked Clinton in the face, told him he was responsible for his son's death, that it was for no purpose and that he wasn't fit to be president or commander in chief."

Smith, who had his left leg amputated after being wounded in Vietnam in the mid-60s, later said Clinton also didn't take responsibility for the decisions that left the Rangers without heavy armored support.

In a another incident, the author said that weeks later family members of many of the dead were called to Washington, D.C., to testify at congressional hearings into the debacle.

"When Clinton heard they were in town, he called them into his office for a meeting and told them that part of the reason they were dead was their own fault," McKenny said. "He said they may have been responsible for their own deaths because they were 'too aggressive' in Mogadishu."

One other incident that didn't make the movie – or the American press, McKenny said – happened after the wounded soldiers were brought back to Walter Reed Army Hospital outside Washington.

"Clinton was advised to go see them, but he didn't want to," McKenny said. "Somewhat reluctantly, he finally did go. When he got there, he offered to have his picture taken with each one of them. At least four turned him down, saying they wouldn't dishonor their dead friends or their uniform by having their pictures taken with him."