A smaller single force with Somali experience could have outperformed UNOSOM II

Evidence

In a popular article in the Sunday Times, and in a conversation with the then British Foreign Secretary, Douglas Hurd, the author strongly advocated the logistic and practical benefits of a single national force which could have been considerably smaller and less expensive than U.N.O.S.O.M. II. A force led by the French Foreign Legion, with, in the case of its Djibouti-based detachments, actual experience of Somali conditions and even some fluency in Somali, would, I believed, have been ideal. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 899

Categorization

• SEED: Counterfactual history angle: could a French Foreign Legion-led force with local language skills have averted the Black Hawk Down disaster? Lewis argues yes.
• XREF: connects to: The U.S. assumed its technical superiority would easily overwhelm the Somalis — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 628; The US withdrawal announcement triggered UNOSOM II’s collapse and renewed clan fighting. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 640; The UN’s hierarchical structure prevented it from applying a bottom-up Somali approach — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 898

Related

• Somalis and international forces held mutually incompatible expectations of the intervention (similarity 0.83)
• The US withdrawal announcement triggered UNOSOM II’s collapse and renewed clan fighting. (similarity 0.81)
• The U.S. assumed its technical superiority would easily overwhelm the Somalis (similarity 0.80)
• The UN’s hierarchical structure prevented it from applying a bottom-up Somali approach (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• The UN’s hierarchical structure prevented it from applying a bottom-up Somali approach #corroborates (0.60) — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 898