[77Dinaartickire]

Black Hawk Down could be viewed as jingoistic because for every yank like a hundred Somalis gets killed, and because all they do is portrayed is essentially positive, for a just cause, and because not much consideration is given to the other side's POV. OTOH, the troops involved were infinitely better organized, equipped and trained than the ragtag militias, and they were on a peacekeeping mission. They way I saw it was that of a bunch of soldiers trapped in a hopelessly desperate situation.

But back on-topic: Haven't we gone through this before? Several years ago Somalia was already branded as a terrorist's hotbed, until some serious research was done into it which found most allegations were baseless. Most of rumours originated out of attempts of some warlords to obtain foreign support to strengthen their position. The US would be real wise to be careful. The real risk IMO is that of a self-fulfulling prophecy, in which foreign parties get themselves involved in Somalia, causing other parties to get themselves involved as well, to the detriment of Somalia itself.