Exclusive: How the SEAL raid on Somalia went bad

[jakeXT]

...


The SEALs entered the compound and took the positions they had selected based on the intelligence collected in advance of the raid.

Then a lone al Shabaab fighter walked out into plain view, smoked a cigarette, and went back inside, one source familiar with the details of the raid said. The fighter played it cool, and gave no indication that he had spotted the SEALs. But he came back out shooting, firing rounds from an AK-47 assault rifle.

Soon the American commandos were under siege from the warlord’s well-armed fighters. Gunfire swept toward their positions and grenades began to rain down, multiple military sources said.

Several of the SEALs could see Ikrima through the windows of the compound, but couldn’t get to him. The SEALs continued to take fire while trying to find a way to get closer to their target.

http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/07/20856248-exclusive-how-the-seal-raid-on-somalia-went-bad?lite

[denverbill]

1. Wow. What the hell do you do then?

If the SOB is surrounding himself with children and you aren't willing to risk their lives, you just don't get him?

Or do you go back and send in an armored division to surround the whole city?

[Comrade Grumpy]

2. There was consideration of an air strike.

Are you seriously talking about sending massive US armed forces to Somalia? It was 20 years ago this week that Blackhawk Down happened. In Somalia.

[denverbill]

5. I'm just throwing stuff out there.

Blackhawk Down was not caused by having too big of a force deployed. Blackhawk Down was almost what happened again with the failed raid this week. They sent in a small force hoping to rely on surprise, speed, and stealth to nab the bad guy. They could easily have been wiped out, and that's clear from the article how dicey it was. If you send an entire armored division and I don't think they'd have much trouble keeping the local population away from the scene. It might not be a very cost effective or time-efficient way to go about it, but I don't know what else you can do if you don't want to kill any children and you don't want to let the terrorist kingpin remain free.

[Blue_Tires]

3. Anyone else surprised at how quickly

unnamed sources want to step forward these days with the "what really happened" story after clandestine ops?

[Fix The Stupid]

4. No shit...

People believe this crap?

One word: Propaganda

[Link Speed]

6. These ops rarely (if ever) go exactly as planned.

If the Somalis had sealed the escape route, we would have never heard of this op.

[Comrade Grumpy]

7. On Saturday, Fox News was celebrating the death of the Al Shabab leader. Oopsie!