Somalia's banana export industry is tied to Aideed, and Ali Mahdi has banned banana ships from Mogadishu's port. Aideed's rivals say Aideed collects a tax on banana exporters and farmers, and that the banana companies give Aideed military aid. This site has never made that claim, but some people have a strong emotional reaction to the U.S. withdrawal from Somalia, and view that withdrawal as a sign of weakness and humiliation. They would rather kill another 10,000 Somalis to salvage their wounded egos. The point I do make in this section right here, right now, is that the Somalis successfully caused the great modern armies of Western civilization to leave their country.
Somali soldiers are militiamen, mostly unpaid volunteers.
Obviously, the Somalis did not win by military superiority, but they successfully demonstrated that military superiority is not necessary to achieve goals. Critics of the right to keep and bear arms often deride the notion that untrained individuals with small arms could stand a chance against a well-equipped modern army. Supporters of a large defense budget often claim that a high-tech military is the only possible way to defend a country in today's world. They are both wrong, as Somalia has so clearly proved. Mere weaponry and training, no matter how advanced, is not the sole or even primary factor of military success.