As The Daily Wire reported last week, John Rossomando of the Investigative Project on Terrorism recently exhumed a rather disturbing 2017 tweet from serial anti-Semitic conspiracy peddler Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN):
In 2017, around the time she was meeting at the United Nations with infamous Islamist strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, then-obscure Minnesota state representative Omar tweeted, in reference to the infamous 1993 U.S. military operation against a Somali warlord’s militia, and during which 19 U.S. military heroes paid the ultimate price: “In his selective memory, [Ron Harris] forgets to also mention the thousands of Somalis killed by the American forces that day! #NotTodaySatan.”
“Black Hawk Down,” or the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, was a famously brutal military operation involving U.S. Joint Special Operations. American soldiers displayed tremendous valor and heroism during the raid, which was eventually depicted in the eponymous Hollywood film.
But perhaps Rep. Omar might be conflicted, in assessing Black Hawk Down in retrospect. One is forced to wonder whether Omar considers the U.S. military to be comprised of war criminals, rather than upstanding heroes.
Many conservatives panned Omar for her moral relativism and conflation of the ethics of the U.S. military — which was engaged in a limited humanitarian operation that perhaps saved tens, or even hundreds of thousands of Somali lives — with the ethics of the opposing Somali warlord’s militia. “She watches Black Hawk Down and roots for the other side,” tweeted Arthur Schwartz.
In total, 19 U.S. military members paid the ultimate price during the Battle of Mogadishu.
Now, as Nate Madden reports for Conservative Review, veterans of “Black Hawk Down” are hitting back on Omar’s brazen tweet:
“In helping her tribe, we had to eliminate those who were bad,” former U.S. Delta Force operator Kyle Lamb told the Washington Examiner in response to Omar’s criticisms. “She should be thankful we were there to help her people.” …
“I really am offended, truly offended, by her comment and her thought that thousands were killed by us,” retired Army Ranger Colonel Danny McKnight told the outlet. “Not true. Not true at all.” …
“We had six fights before we ever got to number seven, which is the one known as ‘Black Hawk Down,'” [McKnight] said. “I think [Omar’s] idea was that there was really one that just took place.”
This is hardly the first time that Omar’s reckless comments have elicited intensive pushback from those directly affected. As The Daily Caller and The Daily Wire reported two weeks ago, the father of a FDNY firefighter killed during the 9/11 jihadist attacks recently took it upon himself to vituperatively condemn Omar’s recent comment that the worst terrorist attack in American history simply amounted to “some people” who did “something”:
“My son Jimmy was murdered by Islamic terrorists. Three thousand people were murdered that day. And Rep. Ilhan Omar said some people did something. That’s ridiculous. It’s outrageous. It’s a disgrace. She’s in the Congress of the United States,” Riches said at the New York State Republican Party dinner at the Grand Hyatt. “My son and those 3000 people died a terrible death.”