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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 3, 1993)
r 3,1993 m Bowl e for the sparsely vl game enerate avenues, ols in a isketball bonanza playoff. t of the playoffs A'hich is as phys- but no games a he only 5 would division mpion. s 3U ier ems t 3 t5 $ &WA $ mpms, r 5 RRX$$I vith the r under ot good jod ve- way he [allman ions as giving otential Adams ■ Aaron nse - a d very ome in e right rappen g kids e bit." v * u ainst ome Friday, September 3,1993 The Bate align Page 9 U.S. Navy P-3 Orion, elite Rangers deployed in search The Associated Press MOGADISHU, Somalia — The U.S. Navy P-3 Ori- ®drones high over Mogadishu, tracing a precise oaltem through the sky in a high-tech search for one nan in a million. The mission is specific: Find Gen. Mohamed Far- lahAidid, the elusive Somali warlord accused by the United Nations of masterminding dozens of attacks jiU.N. personnel. Four Americans and 24 Pakista- jisareamong the casualties. From its position nearly a mile high, the Orion toiild count the hairs on Aidid's balding head — if inly it can find him. The Navy has long used the four-engine Orion to kint for submarines ind more recently for irug smugglers along imerica's long coasts. Flying at 5,000 feet, iis packed with ultra- sodern electronics — iighly sensitive listen- igdevices and cam- jasthat when used in igace can capture the ilate motto off an auto- mbile license plate. But to find Aidid, the Orion and a clutch of high- Schhelicopters with similar capabilities will also iced luck. The search involves scanning a city that the fugi- iveknows like the back of his hand and where mnyof its 1 million residents support him. Jonathan Howe, the retired U.S. admiral who is in jrerall charge of the U.N. operation in Somalia, says tidid's day-by-day whereabouts are generally inown. Others are not so sure. "Aidid appears to leave little trace of a signature md that is a challenge even with our technology/' aidMaj. David Stockwell, a spokesman for the mili- i iaryside of the U.N. operation. In communications intelligence, a "signature" is a ;ommonly used radio frequency, a recognizable mice on constantly changing frequencies or a famil- arpattern of non-voice communications. Even if those communications are encoded, they :anbe recognized and their sources pinpointed. The search for Aidid began after 24 Pakistani peacekeepers were killed June 5 in a series of am- iushesin south Mogadishu, the part of the city con- lolled by Aidid. A week later, U.N. forces began their own nightly lirand ground assaults on Aidid's weapons caches. On June 17, Howe announced what was already iear, that Aidid was a wanted man, and the United tons put a $25,000 bounty on his head. The U.N. attacks included a fiery bombardment of Aidid's home and principal command and control center on July 12. The International Red Cross says 54 Somalis died and 174 were wounded. In retaliation, a Somali mob set upon reporters, photographers and television news crews with knives, rocks and guns, killing an Associated Press photographer and three Reuters employees. The assaults drove Aidid underground and brought a backlash from some countries, U.S. law makers and charitable organizations. Critics said the United Nations, in seeking to pun ish the warlord, was forsaking the humanitarian role that brought it to Somalia in the first place. Howe and the U.N. military argued othrwise. They could continue their effort to capture Aidid, they said, without jeopardizing their mission to rebuild a nation shattered by three years of civil war, famine and anar chy. More than 350,000 people died in 1992 alone before U.S. troops were disr patched in December; the United Nations assumed control in May. The search for Aidid went on, but with a much lower profile. That changed Aug. 8, when a remotely detonated mine blew up a U.S. military vehicle and killed four Americans. The attack was blamed on Aidid. The search quickly shifted from low gear into high. President Clinton authorized the deployment of 400 elite Rangers to Somalia to augment the Army's Rapid Reaction Force of 1,150 soldiers already on hand. The Americans assist a U.N. force of 25,000 from 28 nations, including 4,000 U.S. logistics personnel, but remain under U.S. command. The Rangers brought the tools, training and skills that the U.N. coalition lacked in previous efforts to capture Aidid. Not least among these tools is the Ori on. Still, "technology can't do the job alone," Stock- well said, "and other forms of intelligence, like hu man intelligence, are often imprecise.” It is in human intelligence that the U.N. military effort appears most lacking. There has been no rush of Somalis claiming the $25,000 reward. "Some people support Aidid, others are indiffer ent," Stockwell said. "Those who live in the large middle ground will probably not dispute his presence in their areas." "Aidid appears to leave little trace of a signature and that is a challenge even with our technology." - Maj. David Stockwell, spokesman for military side of U.N. operation University IVcrsliiipJ <& exfi&Uettce dediyueti fa* cctUven&Ctct atudettfo IDauptist Cfiuireti lOryair J0 a*m. University tVersUip ai,im. IDIUlle Study Texas Ave.— First Baptist Church 200 S. Texas Ave. (28th at Texas) Bryan, Texas 779-2434 Dr. Dick Maples, Pastor Bruce Prindle, University Minister University Dr. M,ou ' C, out Whet® ^ Sunday, September 5,1S93 from 2-6 p.m. in the Memorial Student Center