Ilhan Omar said ‘thousands’ of Somalis were killed in ‘Black Hawk Down’ mission

[Deeq A.]

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., once said “thousands” of Somalis were killed by U.S. forces in the 1993 “Black Hawk Down” mission.

The freshman congresswoman’s missive in a 2017 tweet was dug up on Monday. She had been rebuffing a Twitter user’s assertion that the Battle of Mogadishu, which killed more than a dozen U.S. soldiers, was the “worst terrorist attack in Somalia history.”

“In his selective memory, he forgets to also mention the thousands of Somalis killed by the American forces that day! #NotTodaySatan,” Omar, a Somali refugee, tweeted back.

More than a dozen U.S. soldiers were killed and 73 others were injured in the 1993 raid in Mogadishu, which was portrayed in the 2001 movie “Black Hawk Down” starring Josh Hartnett. Somali death toll estimates have varied. Journalist Mark Bowden, who wrote the book on which the “Black Hawk Down” movie was based, estimated roughly 500 Somali militia men had been killed, according to Fox News. Other Somali death toll estimates have varied, going up as high as 1,000, and the Rand Corporation estimated approximately 300 civilians were killed.

Omar’s tweet was first identified by journalist John Rossomando of the Investigative Project on Terrorism. Omar was serving as a state representative in Minnesota when she sent the tweet.

U.S. troops headed into Somalia in 1992 as part of a humanitarian mission to aid famished victims as the country was in turmoil from civil war. The Battle of Mogadishu was launched on Oct. 3, 1993 to capture allies of Somali warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid.

The Battle of Mogadishu lasted 15 hours and killed 18 Americans, including Sgt. James Casey Joyce, 24; Cpl. James “Jamie” Smith, 21; and Sgt. 1st Class Randy Shughart, 35. A well-known photograph from the battle depicts a U.S. soldier being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu.

Several days after the mission, then-President Bill Clinton announced U.S. troops would withdraw from Somalia.

View the full article