World IN BRIEF : SOMALIA : U.S. Embassy Sought Early Policy Change

Diplomatic and military officials said that two weeks before 18 American soldiers were killed in the capital, Mogadishu, the U.S. Embassy sent an urgent cable to Washington arguing that the U.S.-led military campaign had failed. The cable called for a cease-fire and negotiations with clan leader Mohammed Farah Aidid. However, the Sept. 17 cable apparently failed to generate any change at the highest levels of the Clinton Administration, which shifted its policy only after the deaths of the U.S. soldiers Oct. 3. The cable was sent out over the signature of then-U.S. Ambassador Robert Gosende, who was later removed and replaced by career diplomat Richard Bogosian.