Word: baidoa
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Dates: during 1992-1992
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...days after the Marines arrived in the coastal capital of Mogadishu, they were finally going out into the countryside where starving Somalis and relief workers alike are eager for their help. The 700-person contingent was headed for Baidoa, a southern Somalian town where famine has hit especially hard; it is there, and in the remote villages beyond, that most of the U.S.'s humanitarian mission will be carried out. It is there too that the conflict between the narrowly conceived objective of safeguarding food convoys and the larger needs of rebuilding a shattered and lawless nation will be played...
...antitank missile launchers are mounted on each vehicle. Every one of the 700 carries an automatic rifle. Marines pull on heavy desert-camouflage flak jackets and don steel helmets. Ammunition clips snap into place. The men of Team Tiger, the name given to the group of Marines going to Baidoa, are expecting trouble...
...Baidoa expedition exemplifies the doctrine of invincible force espoused by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Colin Powell. The weaponry en route to liberate Baidoa from the "technicals" -- pickup trucks mounted with machine guns -- may look excessive, but it is intended to ensure minimal resistance. "You have to use overwhelming force," says Lieut. Colonel Tom O'Leary, the commander of Team Tiger. "That's the only way you can go in smiling and waving...
...cortege of armored vehicles parks in the undergrowth along the roadside. Nine hours will pass before Team Tiger begins the last leg of its 180-mile journey to Baidoa. Sotak waves to Marines passing by on the bed of a truck. "Those are the real grunts," he says. "When it rains, it's awful, and they can't take stuff like this with them." Sotak opens a St. Louis Cardinals bag holding his only sources of entertainment: a box with a chess set and a small electronic football simulation game...
Pictures can capture history, but in 1992 they also changed its course. From Baidoa to Los Angeles to Sarajevo, the power of extraordinary photos captured the world's attention and broke through to stir the individual conscience...