Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: Tough messenger coming

Tuesday, March 12, 2002 | 8:21 a.m.

THE DOWNING OF A BLACK HAWK HELICOPTER and the capture of pilot Chief Warrant Officer Mike Durant was documented in the popular movie "Black Hawk Down." It was, as I wrote in January, a firefight to remember. That Oct. 3, 1993, day and the next 24 hours now have a special place in U.S. military history. Eighteen of our finest troops died and more than 70 were wounded in their attempt to capture warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid in the center of Mogadishu, Somalia.

The movie was outstanding but, unlike the book, couldn't cover every important detail. Mark Bowden's book "Black Hawk Down" provided the material for the movie and was an excellent piece of writing. The eventual return of Durant to the U.S. military was much more complex than could be told in a movie.

Bowden wrote: "When Robert Oakley arrived in Mogadishu on October 8, Aidid was still in hiding. It took several days to arrange, but he eventually met with the warlord's clan. He told the Habr Gidr leaders that the U.S. military operation against Aidid was over and that Task Force Ranger's original mission had ended. The Somalis were skeptical.

" 'You'll see for yourself over time that it's true,' Oakley said. Then he told them that President Clinton wanted Durant released immediately, without conditions. The Somalis were incredulous. The Rangers had rounded up sixty or seventy men from their leadership. The top men, including the two most important men taken on October 3, Omar Salad and Mohamed Hassan Awale, were being held in a makeshift prison camp on an island off the coast of Kismayo. Any release of Durant would at least involve a trade. That was the Somali way.

" 'I'll do my best to see that these people are released, but I can't promise anything,' Oakley said, pointing out that the Somalis were, technically, in the custody of the UN. 'I'll talk to the president about it, but only after you've released Durant.'

"Then the former ambassador delivered a chilling message. He was careful to say, 'This is not a threat,' but the meaning was plain ..." The message was that heavy U.S. military action could follow if Durant wasn't returned.

Bowden continued, "The Somalis delivered this message to Aidid in hiding, and the warlord saw the wisdom of Oakley's advice. He offered to hand the pilot over immediately."

So who is this man Robert Oakley? Earlier in the book Bowden wrote:

"Former U.S. Ambassador to Somalia Robert Oakley had been attending a party at the Syrian embassy in Washington on Tuesday, October 5, when he got a phone call from the White House. It was Anthony Lake, national security adviser to President Clinton.

" 'I need to talk to you first thing in the morning,' Lake said. 'Why, Tony?' Oakley said. 'I've been home for six months.'

"Oakley, a gaunt, plainspoken intellectual with a distinguished career in diplomacy, had been President George Bush's top civilian in Mogadishu during the humanitarian mission that had begun the previous December. With the famine over and a new administration in Washington, Oakley had departed the city in March 1993, at about the same time his old friend Admiral Jonathan Howe had taken over the top UN job in Somalia."

Yes, Oakley was a professional who had retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in September 1991 after 34 years of service. His record shows he had very few plush assignments. That's unless Somalia, Sudan, Lebanon, Vietnam and Pakistan appeal to you.

Oakley is coming to our area to speak to a gathering in the Grand Ballroom of the Palms Casino Resort, Friday, March 15 at 7 p.m. The Nevada Committee on Foreign Relations and Consular Corps College are sponsoring the dinner event where the general public can attend for a $100 donation. For further information, Gayle Anderson of the Nevada Economic Development Commission can be reached at 486-2721.

I'm looking forward to hearing this man who has come to my attention several times over the years. His service as director of the State Department Office of Combating Terrorism and on the National Security Council Staff during the Reagan years gives him the insight of present day problems that few people have.