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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
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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