On August 27, [1993,] six Massive C-5B Galaxy jet transports arrived at Mogadishu airport. The men who stepped off these planes were the “best of the best, the very sharp tip of the spear” of American military might. The Joint Special Operations Task Force (JSOTF) included 130 operators from Delta's Squadron C; Bravo Company, Third Battalion, Seventy-Fifth Ranger Regiment; and sixteen helicopters from First Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR). These elite warriors would be led by the JSOC deployable headquarters element under General Garrison, “the picture of American military machismo” with a 9mm Baretta strapped to his chest and a half-lit cigar perpetually jutting out of a corner of his mouth.
With orders to capture Aideed, Garrison divided “Operation Gothic Serpent”—as the mission was designated—into three phases. The first phase was deploying the JSOTF and making it operational. Phase Two would concentrate exclusively on locating and capturing Aideed. If this objective appeared futile, then Garrison would initiate Phase Three, which would target the warlord's command structure and force Aideed into the open in order to control his forces.
Garrison believed the key to capturing Aideed was “current actionable intelligence” provided by himan intelligence (HUMINT). Yet when he checked the local intelligence trail upon arrival, there were no leads. The Intelligence Support Activity (Delta's special intelligence cell) and the CIA had lost track of the warlord, who had not been seen since July. Moreover, within days of Task Force Ranger's arrival, the top Somali CIA informant was mortally wounded in a game of Russian roulette. . . .
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