July 24, 2003
The Liberia situation is sticky, but U.S. troops could alter its bloody momentum.
As President Bush tries to have it both ways - promising to help Liberia without actually taking any action - government fighters and rebels are pounding the life out of the capital city of Monrovia. Civilians' bodies pile up toward a God who seems not to be listening. Though the mission has in recent days become harder, and the risk greater, Bush should make good on his implied pledge and send troops to help establish peace in Liberia.
This round of bloodshed could have been avoided. The warring parties had signed a cease-fire and were working on a permanent peace agreement. All sides in this fight, as well as Liberian civilians, expressed eagerness to have United States troops help the Economic Community of West African States, known as ECOWAS, contain the violence so a political process could take root.
They weren't just eager. Most Liberians were ecstatic at the prospect of a U.S. presence. The United States has a unique bond with Liberia. Freed American slaves founded the country in 1847, and brought American names and principles with them. No wonder, then, that when it became clear a military power was needed to help end this current civil war, eyes fell upon the United States.
Liberians' expectations also were high because of what seemed to be support Bush offered during his recent trip to Africa at the beginning of July. And if he had sent troops then - perhaps as few as 500 - to bolster an ECOWAS force, the country's cease-fire would probably still be holding.
Bush needs to stop his stalling and act, despite a split between the Pentagon and State Department over this issue. Whereas 500 may have been enough before, about 2,000 troops will be needed now. Princeton Lyman, a former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria and South Africa, now with the Council on Foreign Relations, estimates they should expect to be there nine months to a year to do the job right.
The United States should not take on this challenge alone, so it's good that the plan being discussed by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and West African leaders still calls for a substantial ECOWAS force. The mission, now that the fighting has begun again, would most likely involve confronting rebels and government soldiers, and forcing them into abandoning their fight. Monrovia would have to be stabilized and other key cities secured.
Most of the fighters are children who Liberian strongman Charles Taylor separated from their families, drugged and sent out to battle. So there must be an immediate plan to give them amnesty and reunify them with relatives. Concurrently, the U.N. should be assembling a peacekeeping force to take over from U.S. forces once the country is stabilized.
President Bush wants to show his compassionate conservatism toward African troubles. Yet the ongoing operations in Afghanistan and Iraq seem to have sent him into a deadly paralysis.
This mess points up the need to create a U.N. rapid deployment force. Member nations would provide soldiers trained to work with each other, who could be dispatched within 48 hours. But the United States has consistently opposed that. If Americans are uncomfortable with the idea of their nation as the world's cop, always on call, they should support this multinational force. But the situation in Liberia can't wait upon such long-term projects. The President must commit now, before the corpses pile up ever higher.
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