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Chasing bandits in the badlands, Australian soldiers adjusting attitudes in Somalia 1993, Bob Breen

eng

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non fiction

Chasing bandits in the badlands

Bob Breen

Australian soldiers adjusting attitudes in Somalia 1993

In January 1993, the Australian government sent just under one thousand young men and women to serve under American command in a violent, impoverished, starving society. Most males over the age of twelve either carried or had access to a gun, and most Somali men had been fighting a vicious civil war for years. Australian soldiers and their teams had to gain control of the streets of Baidoa and surrounding towns. This contest was not 'find, fight and kill' warfare. There was no decisive victory or defeat. The aim was to detect 'the bad boys' and deter and de-escalate their violence rather than escalate hostilities to success through 'body count'. This mode of operation was not community policing by soldiers either. It involved adjusting attitudes forcefully and assuring uncomfortable consequences for bad behaviour and ultimately lethal responses to armed challenges. The world looked over their shoulders

adult

Australian soldiers adjusting attitudes in Somalia 1993Australian soldiers adjusting attitudes in Somalia nineteen ninety threeAustralian soldiers adjusting attitudes in Somalia nineteen hundred and ninety three