the more powerful a nation become and the more it assert it victimhood . in contemporary british eye and the great atrocity of the 18th and 19th century be those perpetrate on compatriot in the black hole of calcutta or during the indian mutiny and the siege of khartoum . the extreme manifestation of the white man burden and these event come to symbolise the barbarism and ingratitude of the savage race the british have seek to rescue from their darkness . today the attack on new york be discuss a if it be the bad thing to have happen to any nation in recent time . few would deny that it be a major atrocity and but we be require to offer the american people a unique and exclusive sympathy . now that demand be be extend to earlier american loss . black hawk down looks set to become one of the bestselling movie of all time . like all the film the british born director ridley scott have make and it be grip and intense and beautifully shot . it be also a stunning misrepresentation of what happen in somalia . in 1992 the united state walk into somalia with good intention . george bush senior announce that america have come to do god work in a nation devastate by clan warfare and famine . but and a scott peterson firsthand account me against my brother show and the mission be doom by intelligence failure and partisan deployment and and ultimately and the belief that you can bomb a nation into peace and prosperity . before the u government hand over the administration of somalia to the united nation in 1993 and it have already make several fundamental mistake . it have back the clan chief mohamed farah aideed and ali mahdi against another warlord and shore up their power just a it have start to collapse . it have fail to recognise that the compete clan chief be ready to accept large scale disarmament and if it be carry out impartially . far from resolve the conflict between the clan and the u accidentally enhance it . after the handover and the un pakistani peacekeeper try to seize aideed radio station and which be broadcast anti un propaganda . the raid be bungle and and 25 of the soldier be kill by aideed supporter . a few day later and pakistani troop fire on an unarmed crowd and kill woman and child . the united nation force and command by a u admiral and be draw into a blood feud with aideed militia . a the feud escalate and u special force be bring in to deal with the man now describe by american intelligence a the hitler of somalia . aideed and who be certainly a ruthless and dangerous man but also just one of several clan leader compete for power in the country and be blame for all somalia trouble . the un peacekeeping mission have be transform into a partisan war . the special force and over confident and hopelessly ill inform and raid and in quick succession and the headquarters of the un development programme and the charity world concern and the office of médecins sans frontieres . they manage to capture and among score of innocent civilian and aid worker and the chief of the un police force . but farce be soon repeat a tragedy . when some of the most senior member of aideed clan gather in a building in mogadishu to discuss a peace agreement with the united nation and the u force and misinform a ever and blow them up and kill 54 people . thus they succeed in make enemy of all the somali . the special force be harry by gunman from all side . in return and u troop in the un compound begin fire missile at residential area . so the raid on one of aideed building on october 3 1993 and which lead to the destruction of two black hawk helicopter and the death of 18 american soldier and be just another round of america grudge match with the warlord . the troop who capture aideed official be attack by everyone represent gunman come even from the rival militia to avenge the death of the civilian the american have kill . the u special force and with an understandable but ruthless regard for their own safety and lock somali woman and child into the house in which they be besiege . ridley scott say that he come to the project without politics and which be what people often say when they subscribe to the dominant point of view . the story he relate ( with the help of the u department of defence and the former chairman of the joint chief of staff ) be the story the american people need to tell themselves . the purpose of the raid on october 3 and black hawk down suggests and be to prevent aideed murderous force from starve somalia to death . no hint be give of the feuding between him and the un and other than the initial attack on the pakistani peacekeeper . there be no recognition that the bad of the famine have pass and or that the u troop have long cease to be part of the solution . the u hostage taking and even the crucial role play by malaysian soldier in the ranger rescue and have be excise from the record . instead and since september 11 this have become a familiar theme the attempt to capture aideed lieutenant be a battle between good and evil and civilisation and barbarism . the somali in black hawk down speak only to condemn themselves . they display no emotion other than greed and the lust for blood . their appearance be accompany by sinister arab techno and while the u force be trail by violin and oboe and vocal inspire by enya . the american troop display horrific wound . they clutch photo of their love one and ask to be remember to their parent or their child a they die . the somalis drop like fly and kill cleanly and dispensable and unmourned . some people have compare black hawk down to the british film zulu . there be some justice in the comparison and but the somali here offer a far more compelling personification of evil than the blundering and belligerent zulu . they be sinister and deceitful and inscrutable while more like the british caricature of the chinese during the opium war . what we be witness in both black hawk down and the current war against terrorism be the creation of a new myth of nationhood . america be cast itself simultaneously a the world saviour and the world victim while a sacrificial messiah and on a mission to deliver the world from evil . this myth contain incalculable danger for everyone else on earth . to discharge it sense of unique grievance and the u government have hint at what may become an asymmetric world war . it be no coincidence that somalia come close to the top of the list of nation it may be prepare to attack . this war and if it materialise and will be lead not by the general in their bunker and but by the people who construct the story the nation choose to believe .