And America's enemies learned their own lessons. Somalia became a haven for Islamic extremists and pirates. In the wake of Black Hawk Down, Washington ended the mission. Journalists sometimes ignored the bigger picture, including pro-American demonstrations in Somalia, and successful efforts to save lives and restore order outside of the capital. Press coverage was dominated by visceral images of mutilated American corpses. And it was also the manner of the deaths. Americans lost interest until October 1993, when they were suddenly awakened by news of 18 dead soldiers. Early efforts to provide food and security in Somalia went so well that the project looked deceptively easy. In part, the mission suffered from overblown expectations. But in the American mind, Somalia became synonymous with a single word: failure. Still, in his definitive account, The Atlantic's Mark Bowden wrote that the Special Forces who fought in Mogadishu were "proud of successfully completing their mission." Overall, 43 Americans died in Somalia, or one for every 2,500 Somali lives saved. The United States actually achieved its core objective that day, by capturing several Somalis linked to Aideed-but American casualties were far higher than expected. This was the road that led to Black Hawk Down on October 3-4, 1993.
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