But military sources say that top Pentagon officials hope to avoid the bloodletting of a major inquiry. Instead of setting up a special commission of senior officers as it has in the past to probe such military debacles as the failed 1980 Desert One hostage rescue attempt in Iran, the Pentagon’s Joint Staff has been poring over logs and cable traffic to dissect the operation. The supersecret Joint Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, N.C., which oversees special ops units like the rangers and Delta Force commandos who were sent to Somalia, has begun its own internal look at the failed operation.
But some officers think the Somalia debacle should prompt a full-scale DOD inquiry. “A bunch of kids got killed because of some boneheaded maneuvers,” grumbles one Pentagon colonel. “This is a disaster on the level of Desert One.” Predicts one source on the joint Staff. “There’s going to be finger-pointing. And the fingers are going to go in every direction.”
