[twister881]

The stronghold should be turned into a parking lot, and any follow-on sanctuaries. Yes, civilian casualties, but small SpecOps unit not the answer in this case.

[dps.inspect]

Ya, who put up the barricades and who told them to put them up? who has the power to instruct government agencies where to inflict the greatest amount of pain?

[tillacum]

So who told of the Seal’s raid? HMMM?

[VerySadAmerican]

The seals were probably under orders to only make arrests and read the captors their rights.

[csvset]

Hi, we’re SEAL Team 6, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter at #SpecDevGru. /s.

Something stinks about this raid.Did Barry (the bitch) set them up?

[petitfour]

Why are US Special Forces doing this? Why not Kenyans? Oh wait . . .

[Pentagon Leatherneck]

I doubt anyone in the public knows who the Special Ops guys were. I like it that way, and so do they. Loose lips sink ships.

TC

[The Great RJ]

Obama has been so quick to use drones in the past, but needed another Bin Laden type raid to bolster his sagging polls. Instead of wasting US troops in this hell hole, just carpet bomb the area with a couple of B-52 strikes to be sure and let Allah sort them out.

[Noamie]

“the US troops were faced with heavier-than-expected return fire”

Hmm... like the kind you get when they already know you’re coming? Perhaps?

[LeoWindhorse]

nuke the skinnies and call it good

[dfwgator]

What purpose did this raid serve in the first place?

[jwalsh07]

Why do we even know what Seal Team 6 is doing? Same for Delta. This is craziness.

[Pan_Yan]

20 years and 2 days ago we lost 18 Americans in one of the more tragic episodes in modern US military history. What were trying to do that day? Cherry pick individual targets for arrest in an enemy stronghold during an ethnic civil war. Sound familiar? Same damn country even.

[tet68]

US troops were faced with heavier-than-expected return fire, and pulled out to avoid civilian casualties,

Proper previous planning prevents piss poor performance.
P7.

Civilians? How could they tell?

[UnwashedPeasant]

"the Seals’ commanders made the call to pull out to avoid civilian casualties."

[PghBaldy]

According to Somalia, we informed them of the upcoming raid. No wonder it didn’t turn out well.

[Chainmail]

Once again, we're using the SEALs for raids that should be conducted by the Marines. SEALs are relatively lightly armed commandos, trained for fast, minimal contact operations. A Marine MEU is designed for everything from fast, small-scale combat operations to full-on sustained combined arms combat against everything up to regiment/brigade sized opponents.

Didn't anybody remember the Rangers and Delta in Mogadishu? They thought that a lightning fast raid of special operators could quickly run in, seize Mohammad Aideed and then escape. It turned out that the Somalis specialized in very fast and aggressive response and ramped up their numbers in minutes to the tens of thousands. Later on, everybody wondered why we didn't have any tanks or artillery ready for just such a contingency.

A MEU brings everything needed in one package for just such an occasion. SEALs aren't good at big fights: remember Grenada, Panama, the Gulf War, the Afghanistan "last stand"? Time to restrict our fascination with Soldier of Fortune magazine stuff and to go back to professionals.