Black Hawk Down, and on Display

[*Arabman]

"Close the door," shouts the lady sitting in front of me. One of her grandchildren quickly obliges and the metal-sheeted door is shut with a squeak. It is mid-day in Somalia's capital Mogadishu but there is little activity on the usually bustling streets of the neighboring market. Ethiopian soldiers are busy rooting out alleged al-Qaeda terrorists and members of the Islamic Courts Union, which held sway over the city and most of the country until the end of 2006. At the smallest hint of trouble, the soldiers are quick to respond with bursts of gunfire in all directions. The last thing my interviewee wants is lead pouring in through her front door.

Her name is Hawo Hussein Adan, more popularly known as "The Helicopter Woman." She resides in a squalid two-room house with bullet-riddled walls but she prefers to live in its tiny courtyard amidst the chicken that scurry about at her feet. She hasn't budged from this spot for 17 years. But despite a foot injury and her relatively run-down lifestyle, the helicopter woman is renowned here in Mogadishu as a symbol of defiance and resilience for many Somalis in the city. The Somalis who visit the helicopter w oman today see her as a symbol of nationalism — and her guardianship of the relic that provides her nickname resonates with Somali belief in their own courage in the face of foreign encroachment. Says one neighbor, "She is a strong woman."

Adan won her strange appellation when one of the U.S. Black Hawk helicopters fell on her house in October 1993, in the middle of a U.N. humanitarian intervention gone disastrously awry. Adan managed to retain a part of the helicopter's remains before everything else inside the aircraft was destroyed or looted. The piece sits in a corner of the courtyard as proof of what she has gone through and her small but emotional part in the country's history.

During my visit, she recounted the fateful afternoon in October, 1993 when she lost her home. "We were 20 people inside the room when the helicopter fell on our house. Militia first attacked [it from the] Bakara market. It came down and fell among our houses. When the chopper fell, a wounded American jumped away. He along with others ran from the back of our house to the front and stood near us. When he came to the front of our house, he stopped there and he killed several people. He killed one man there, there and there," she says, pointing around the neighborhood. "Everyone was afraid and ran away from him. When he did such a thing, some of our Somali men came from behind the trees and hiding, they caught the wounded man. When he was captured, some of the Somali men fought with each other about what to do with him. They said, 'We should kill him'. Some said, 'We should not kill him because some of our men are taken by the Americans. We should keep him to help us release them.'" The American, pilot Michael Durant, was held by the Somalis for 11 days.

Adan managed to escape from the conflagration unscathed but two of her children were killed under the falling debris. (She also lost 100 kilos of food and 11 of her goats). Her house was among several in the neighborhood consumed by the ensuing fire. "It was very troubling. I was afraid. We were afraid, all of us because our houses were destroyed, our people were killed, our land was captured, so that's why we were afraid."

Like many she sees what's happening today as a continuation of the crisis from the early 90's. Since the beginning of this year, Ethiopian troops have taken over the city in an attempt to rid the capital of remnants of the earlier Union of Islamic Courts. But Adan, again like the rest of her countrymen, sees nothing positive in this."I'm praying to God to take those Amharra and Christians away from us," she says. Amharra is a reference to the Ethiopians; Christians refers to all Westerners. "I don't need any Amharra or Christians." The best solution to all of Somalia's problems, she feels, is in leaving Somalis alone. Declares the Helicopter Woman: "Allah can give us everything we need."

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/ ... 14,00.html

[*Arabman]

Excerpts from the article:

[When he came to the front of our house, he stopped there and he killed several people. He killed one man there, there and there," she says, pointing around the neighborhood.]

I didn't know Michael Durant killed several innocent people. That was cowardly.

["I'm praying to God to take those Amharra and Christians away from us," she says. Amharra is a reference to the Ethiopians; Christians refers to all Westerners. "I don't need any Amharra or Christians."]

Well said to Hawo Hussein Adan.

[Steeler [Crawler2]]

The reason you didn't know it, is because it's not true. Durant had a broken femur from the crash, and could not walk. He was removed from the helicopter by Gordon and Shugart and placed against a tree, the location of his ultimate capture. He defended himself from that location until he ran out of ammunition. The only people he might have shot were SNA militiamen.

The helicopter wounded her daughter, and killed no one when it crashed. Obviously she has chosen to embellish her account, in the great Somali tradition of lying your a$$ off as frequently as possible.

[*Arabman]

It's against the teachings of Islam to lie. Clearly, Hawo Hussein Adan, an elderly, isn't lying. Though there are some Somalis (especially the secular ones) who lie, Americans lie far more and worse. I mean, the lies of Americans caused the death of 1 million or more Iraqis. What's more, we Muslims can only believe the truth told by Hawo Hussein Adan, because she's Muslim, and because invaders and occupiers speak/tell mostly lies. I believe what Hawo Hussein Adan told, that the cowardly Michael Durant killed several innocent people, not SNA militiamen. That's because America distorts and embelishes the accounts of its servicemen. Few examples; Pat Tillman & Jessica Lynch.

[shidow1]

I was in Mogadishu when the black hawk came down.....please not that I was not involved in bringing down any american plane or killed any american.....

[*Arabman]

[I was in Mogadishu when the black hawk came down.....please not that I was not involved in bringing down any american plane or killed any american.....]

If you had a chance to bring down a helicopter, you would have done it?

[shidow1]

[quote="*Arabman"][I was in Mogadishu when the black hawk came down.....please not that I was not involved in bringing down any american plane or killed any american.....]

If you had a chance to bring down a helicopter, you would have done it?[/quote]
I have aided in the act of bringing down......not by my hand....lol

[muslim-man]

[quote="shidow1"]please not that I was not involved in bringing down any american plane or killed any american.....[/quote]

[Kamal35]

You have here the whole story by Mark Bowden. Being a journo myself, I don't think he is biased, because a journo is always interested in the whole story, not in his own side of the story. I found Bowden's "Black Hawk Down" quite interesting, although as Mad Mac pointed once, there were some little mistakes, but not in order to change the main things of the story.

Bowden's book has little to do with the unfamous movie by Riddley Scott. Scott turned up a brilliant book into disgusting rubbish against Somalis. He shot a racist film and portrayed a bad look of Somali people. I always found really interesting the facts that took place that day because a Somali friend of mine, a girl, was in the whereabouts and she spoke to me about her fear, the brutality of the battle and how everyone was really scared there. The most impressive memory she had was the smell, sound and heat of American hellicopters.

I always was looking for someone in the Somali side that was there those days to learn the full story from both sides. Only Abdiwahab252 was one of the interesting guys who could bring here some interesting points about those days...

This is the link to read the whole story by Mark Bowden:

http://inquirer.philly.com/packages/som ... ault16.asp

[SummerRain]

[quote="shidow1"]I was in Mogadishu when the black hawk came down.....please not that I was not involved in bringing down any american plane or killed any american.....[/quote]

[Kamal35]

Isma: Instead making big LOL and all that bring here an interesting point.

Thanks in advance.

[Steeler [Crawler2]]

"It's against the teachings of Islam to lie. Clearly, Hawo Hussein Adan, an elderly, isn't lying. Though there are some Somalis (especially the secular ones) who lie, Americans lie far more and worse. I mean, the lies of Americans caused the death of 1 million or more Iraqis. What's more, we Muslims can only believe the truth told by Hawo Hussein Adan, because she's Muslim, and because invaders and occupiers speak/tell mostly lies. I believe what Hawo Hussein Adan told, that the cowardly Michael Durant killed several innocent people, not SNA militiamen. That's because America distorts and embelishes the accounts of its servicemen. Few examples; Pat Tillman & Jessica Lynch."

Are you saying that Durant did not have a broken femur, or that the Somali accounts of his capture are not accurrate (more lying I guess)? Because you can't walk with a broken femur.

In her account in 93 when it happened, she claimed no one was killed when the helicopter crashed. Now suddenly two children were killed. Hmmmm..........seems like she can't get her story straight.

The Tillman case was unfortunate, and certainly there was some deceit there by some individuals who did not want to tell the family it was a friendly fire case. But if you are pretending that Somalis don't lie or exagerate, you are just off your rocker. They lie and exagerate as a matter of routine. So do Arabs. It is an interesting fact that polygraghs are not nearly as effective with Arabs as with Anglos because lying is so routine for them, that their body does not react when they lie.

[*Arabman]

[Are you saying that Durant did not have a broken femur, or that the Somali accounts of his capture are not accurrate (more lying I guess)? Because you can't walk with a broken femur.]

This is what you claimed:

"The only people he might have shot were SNA militiamen."

The bottom line, he killed several people, which even you aren't sure ("might") were SNA militiamen. You weren't there, Hawo was there. You and your servicemen are known to tell lies, distort or embellish the truth. It's the practice of the institution you work for and Western media to demonize the people you occupy, cover up for the massacres you commit, aggrandize the little successes you achieve and decorate you as "heroes" despite the fact you're villains.