I didn't really see much of the Fallujah story this week, where US Government contractors were killed and dragged through the streets. I've heard the gist of the story, heard the backlash to a few comments by Markos, and really think people are missing the point here.
Here's the thing, in 1993 when American forces got into a tight spot in unfriendly territory not much was said and the Clinton administration backed out of the area as quietly as it could. Nothing much was made of the operation until Mark Bowden told the story of Mogadishu and Task Force Ranger. Since then Bowden's book Blackhawk Down has become a story like Apollo 13, a successful failure, though with a much higher human cost as well as a significant cost to American foreign policy. Mogadishu was a prime example for the application of the Powell Doctrine.
General Powel made a good deal of sense when he said that the use of military force should be limited to specific goals with a realistic exit strategy. For the eight years of the Clinton Administration the Powel doctrine and the memory of Mogadishu kept the United States from putting our service men and women in harms way without a great deal of thought and planning. This is perhaps both good and bad. Good in the sense that our forces weren't put in harms way, bad in the sense that interventions in Rwanda, that possibly could have averted or lessened the genocide there were likewise not undertaken.
When I look at the Fallujah story this week I see it through the lens of Mogadishu. I see things through the lens of the battle that bloodied my generation. When I look at the news reports and word of mouth on this murder and desecration I am forced to wonder, why were these men there and who sent them there without support? Is this how our Government works now? We send men into a situation that we wouldn't send our own troops into and have nothing but outraged words to back them up?
For all the talk of Donald Rummsfeld's 'Transformation', why is it that there were no Special Operations quick response team available to provide support? Where was CSAR (Combat Search and Rescue)? In short, why were these men playing without a net?
That's the question I've not heard asked. Is our administration so afraid of casualties that it has to contract out our 'Grey Ops'? Is this an election year decision to keep the casualty count down so as to not embarrass the President on his chosen platform?
Perhaps I'm being crass. Perhaps I too should lament the fallen and join in the chorus of cries for blood. To me however this is a failure of our government as much as it was the fault of those people in Fallujah that participated in this massacre. Who sent these men in harms way without backup, and why. That is the question that is not being asked. This was not a random act of violence. It was a provoked response. Who decided to provoke it?
Is the United States Government afraid to send Rangers to Fallujah because Rangers never leave a man behind? Our government left these men behind. They broke that sacred pact. That is simply not right and someone needs to be held accountable. In Mogadishu General Garrison took responsibility for the failure that led to Rangers dying, that led to Americans being dragged through the streets like animals. Who will be responsible now? Or is that the point, by using contractors to do it's dirty work does our government get to pass the buck yet one more time?