My Clan Against the World: US and Coalition Forces in Somalia 1992-1994

“My Clan Against the World”: US and Coalition Operations in
Somalia, 1992-94 represents another in a series of military case studies
published by the Combat Studies Institute (CSI) at Fort Leavenworth,
Kansas. The impetus for this project came from the commanding general,
US Army Training and Doctrine Command, Fort Monroe, Virginia, who
directed CSI to examine the American military’s experience with urban
operations in Somalia, particularly in the capital city of Mogadishu. That original focus can be found in the following pages, but the
authors address other, broader issues as well, to include planning for
a multinational intervention; workable and unworkable command and
control arrangements; the advantages and problems inherent in coalition
operations; the need for cultural awareness in a clan-based society whose
status as a nation-state is problematic; the continuous adjustments required
by a dynamic, often unpredictable situation; the political dimension of
military activities at the operational and tactical levels; and the ability to
match military power and capabilities to the mission at hand.
This case study also cautions against the misuse and overuse of “les-
sons” learned from any given military undertaking. As with the lessons
of Vietnam, one of which dictated that conventional units should not
engage in unconventional warfare, the US experience in Somalia left
many military analysts and policymakers convinced that the United States
should eschew any undertaking that smacked of nation building. Yet,
as this book is published, just ten years after the US exit from Somalia,
American forces are engaged in several locations against an unconven-
tional foe and are involved in nation building in both Afghanistan and
Iraq. Perhaps the first lesson to be learned about extracting lessons is, in
the words of a once-popular motion picture, “Never Say Never Again.”