[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 141 (Monday, October 3, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 3, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
           THE 1-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIREFIGHT FROM HELL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Dornan] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DORNAN. Mr. Speaker, tonight is the year anniversary of a tragic, 
albeit heroic, day in the annals of the U.S. Army, in our military 
history. It was the night of October 3 and October 4 last year that 18 
superbly trained, extremely heroic American men in the prime of their 
life died in what their surviving colleagues called the firefight from 
hell. It was the worst firefight since the Vietnam war. The men were 
six pilots and aircrew from what is the world's, the world's, greatest 
helicopter unit, the 160th Aviation Regiment Special Forces at Fort 
Campbell in Kentucky. There were six Rangers from the 3d Battalion, 
75th Rangers, Fort Benning. Some of them were very young, 22 or 21 due 
to the unit, and then there were five of the best trained soldiers in 
the world, our Special Forces men from Fort Bragg who are trained to 
rescue us if were are ever taken hostage, and many of them are down in 
Haiti at this very moment.
  Mr. Speaker, it is ironic that 1 year later to the day a young 
American lies in a hospital. We are told he will survive. He was close 
to death. He was shot in the stomach during the last 24 hours. We do 
not know who shot him; a sniper, could have been either side, the pro-
Aristide mobs or the killer, attache, ninja death squads of the 
prevailing de facto government in Haiti.
  But the same mission creep that brought about over 75 men stranded 
all night long--in Somalia right now it is dawn, and a year ago it was 
dawn, and men of the 10th Mountain Division, with the help of some UN 
forces, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, were trying to fight their way 
through road blocks in that godforsaken town of Mogadishu to reach our 
men. They were holed up in rooms where the floor was covered with 
blood. They had held out all night long. Night vision scopes helped 
them survive. They had no air cover from the big AC-130 gun ships, but 
what they called the little birds, the Hughes 86 Cayuse; some of those 
pilots whom I met with shortly thereafter flew, Mr. Speaker, 17 
uninterrupted hours of combat support, firing all night long with 10-
minute refueling trips back to the base which was only a few minutes 
away at Mogadishu International Airport.
  Mr. Speaker, we have now that mission creep in Haiti, and I yield to 
the gentleman from California [Mr. Hunter].
  Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California [Mr. 
Dornan] for yielding, and I just wanted to thank him for this 
extraordinary service that he did for the House of Representatives and 
for the Committee on Armed Services as a Member who, after the Somalia 
tragedy, flew some 40 hours to Somalia and back while the rest of us 
were too busy or had other things that we could not leave. The 
gentleman from California [Mr. Dornan] flew out there, and met with the 
troops, met with the wounded people, ultimately talked to every family 
of the troops who were killed in that particular tragedy.
  I say to the gentleman, ``I want to thank you, Bob, for what you did. 
I think it was a great service to the House and to the Armed Services 
Committee.''
  Mr. DORNAN. Mr. Speaker, I say to the gentleman, ``Duncan, I don't 
know how much time I have left.''
  Mr. HUNTER. Well, I will take a little when the gentleman gets 
finished.
  Mr. DORNAN. All right. Some of the fathers and mothers of these men, 
particularly Randy Shughart whose dad went to the White House last May 
23, refused to shake the hand of the Commander in Chief of these men. I 
asked him how he could possibly have allowed Aidid to be flown by our 
military. They did not make the Army guard them, but it was an Army 
airplane, Marine guards, to fly him on December 3 down to a conference 
in Addis Ababa. He said, ``How could you do that with the killer of my 
son?''
  And he said, ``Well, I didn't know about that, Mr. Shughart.''
  He said, ``Well, do you claim you did not know about Operation Ranger 
either, that they were arresting them, but they were doing it on your 
orders?''
  And he said, ``That brings to mind that some of my dead son's friends 
say they could have killed Aidid at least three times.''
  Well, you may not be aware of this, Mr. Shughart, but our country 
doesn't have the policy of assassinating leaders in other nations.''
  And in his simple, farmer way Herb Shughart said, ``Leader? I thought 
you called him a thug. I thought you said he was a warlord. I though 
you ordered him arrested. But it's O.K. for my son and 18 others to 
die, and a 19th 3 days later, on October 6?''
  And I said, ``What did he say?''
  Herb, he turned as red as a tomato and tried to stare a hole through 
me.
  ``What did you do?''
  He said, ``I stared a hole right back through him and told him, `I 
have nothing more to say to you, Mr. President.'''
  Now, if this young man who is suffering intensely tonight with a 
stomach wound--looked for a while like he would die--I wonder what his 
father is thinking tonight with mission creep down there in Haiti, with 
no vital interest at stake, no goal, no timetables, and if we were to 
pull out precipitously, what a message that gives us to the world, as 
we looked weak when we pulled out of Somalia--although I was for 
pulling out.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman from California 
[Mr. Dornan] has expired.
  Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that I might be 
given 4 minutes so that I might yield some time.
  Mr. DORNAN. Take 5. I want to read these names.
  Mr. HUNTER. Five minutes.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  Mr. ORTON. Reserving the right to object, Mr. Speaker, is Mr. Hunter 
listed on the list of special orders.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from California [Mr. Hunter] 
was not listed. Mr. Hunter retains the right to request unanimous 
consent at the end of the calendar. There are three more Members listed 
on the chart.
  Mr. ORTON. Mr. Speaker, I will not object at this point. I would ask 
the Members to maybe please try to stick to the time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair would seek to entertain a request 
for unanimous consent at the end of the calendar.
  Mr. ORTON. Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my reservation of objection.


                         parliamentary inquiry

  Mr. DORNAN. Mr. Speaker, I have a parliamentary inquiry.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman will state his parliamentary 
inquiry.
  Mr. DORNAN. I ask, ``Couldn't a courtesy request be made because we 
are speaking about deceased American heroes who died for us and their 
country?''
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there pending a unanimous-consent 
request?
  Hearing none, the Chair intends to prevail with the outstanding 
schedule.
  Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I have made a unanimous-consent request that 
I might be given 5 minutes out of order and be allowed to yield that 
time to the gentleman from California [Mr. Dornan].
  Mr. SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentleman from 
California [Mr. Hunter] may proceed for 5 minutes at this point.

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