Black Hawk Down

Philosophy at the Movies - Un pódcast de Stockdale Center - Shaun Baker, PhD.

What does this 2001 film, concerning a complex military operation to take two lieutenants of a Somali warlord, tell us about the complexities of peace-keeping operations and military operations in heavily populated urban environments? What does it tell us about state-building efforts that the UN took upon itself in Somalia in the 1990s? How does it presage similar efforts in the Post 9/11 world? What lessons should be learned from the substance or results of such efforts? How does it illustrate the level of complexity that is often involved in command and control in military operations, and the moral pressures that command and operators might feel when planning and executing such missions? How does it illustrate the tension that exists between humanitarian imperatives and stewardship responsibilities civilian command has with regard to forces they insert for high risk humanitarian missions?

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